LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


THE    SONS    OF    HAM. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 


Cale  of  tJje  iSeto 


BY 


LOUIS   PENDLETON, 

AUTHOR   OF    "IN    THE   WIRE-GRASS,"    "THE   WEDDING   GARMENT," 

"KING  TOM  AND  THE  RUNAWAYS,"  ETC. 


BOSTON: 
ROBERTS     BROTHERS. 

1  1895. 


LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


Copyright,  1895, 
BY  Louis  PENDLETON. 


JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE,  U.  S.  A. 


THE    AFRICAN    COLONIZATION    SOCIETIES 
OF   THE   FUTURE 

THIS   BOOK   IS   HOPEFULLY   INSCRIBED. 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 


i.  . 

THE  time  was  early  fall,  morning,  of  the  year 
1 88-;  the  place,  an  upstairs  office  in  a  small 
Southern  town.  The  room  was  large  for  an  office, 
but  contained  little  furniture  beyond  a  desk  and 
two  or  three  chairs.  The  walls  were  not  so  bare, 
there  being  a  plentiful  array  of  lawbooks  on  shelves, 
and  not  less  than  four  small  portraits,  a  glance  re 
vealing  that  these  were  intended  to  represent  Wash 
ington,  Bismarck,  Gladstone,  and  Grover  Cleveland. 
Their  owner  was  wont  to  point  them  out  with  a 
look  of  pride,  while  remarking  that  he  had  always 
liked  to  surround  himself  with  "  big  men ;"  and  even 
now,  as  he  sat  alone,  his  feet  mounted  upon  the 
desk,  threatening  the  stability  of  an  inkstand  on  the 
right  and  two  bottles  of  beer  on  the  left,  he  stared 
vacantly  at  the  first-named,  which  hung  directly  in 
his  front 

This  lover  of  fine  company,  Samuel  Thomas  by 
name,  and  lawyer  by  profession,  was  a  young  man 
of  twenty-five,  full  in  face  and  body,  fair,  florid,  and 


2  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

rather  good-looking  in  an  external  way,  in  spite  of 
his  air  of  self-satisfaction.  Markedly  different  in  ap 
pearance  was  the  person  whose  step  was  now  heard 
on  the  stairway  outside,  and  who  presently  entered 
the  office,  the  door  being  open.  The  visitor,  also  a 
young  man,  was  dark,  thin,  and  sallow,  and  at  the 
first  glance  nothing  about  him  seemed  attractive 
but  his  eyes,  which  were  of  a  peculiar  dark  gray 
color  and  distinguished  by  a  strange,  haunting 
beauty.  But  for  these,  the  firm  jaw  and  serious 
face  would  have  combined  in  an  expression  of 
unmistakable  sternness. 

"  Hello,  Morton !  come  in,"  said  Thomas,  cheer 
fully,  without  moving.  "  Have  a  seat.  Care  for  a 
glass  of  beer  this  early  in  the  morning?  " 

"  No,  thank  you." 

"Is  it  business?"  was  then  asked,  the  visitor 
being  seated. 

"Well,  yes  —  in  a  way,"  was  the  cold  response. 
"  I  'd  like  to  get  at  the  truth  of  those  reports  about: 
Miss  Black." 

"  What  reports  about  Miss  Black?  " 

"  Those  stories  about  her  in  connection  with  you  ; 
about  her  allowing  you  to  take  liberties  —  to  kiss 
her." 

"Who  said  so?" 

"  It 's  all  over  town." 

Thomas  slowly  removed  his  feet  from  the  desk, 
looking  steadily  at  his  visitor.  "  I  'm  surprised  that 
you  should  want  to  know,"  he  said,  after  a  pause. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  3 

"  I  have  good  reason  for  wanting  to  know." 

"  Well,  then,  if  you  are  serious,  there 's  noth 
ing  in  it.  She  has  a  free,  breezy  way,  different  from 
our  Southern  girls,  but  it  means  nothing;  it  means 
simply  that  she 's  jolly.  I  never  kissed  her.  I 
knew  right  away  that  I  could  n't." 

"  But  they  say  you  boasted  publicly  that  you 
did." 

"  Oh,  that  was  all  a  joke,"  replied  the  young 
lawyer,  flippantly.  "  I  just  wanted  something  to 
crow  over  the  boys  about.  They  ought  to  have 
known  it  was  nothing  but  a  joke." 

"  And  what  about  the  young  lady's  reputation?  " 
A  stern  expression  was  creeping  into  Morton's 
peculiar  eyes.  "  One  would  think  that  would  have 
occurred  to  you  before  you  amused  yourself  with 
such  a  'joke ;  '  and  also  that  she  was  far  away  from 
her  home  and  without  protection." 

Thomas  uttered  a  mild  oath  and  inquired  uneasily 
what  was  the  "  earthly  use "  of  being  so  serious 
about  a  mere  trifle.  How  could  Miss  Black  pos 
sibly  be  harmed  by  a  few  jesting  remarks  such  as 
he  had  uttered?  She  was  a  stranger  in  the  town 
and  did  not  expect  to  stay  permanently ;  the  local 
photographer  had  engaged  her  to  assist  him  during 
the  fall  and  winter  months  only.  Besides,  she  had 
not  as  yet  been  taken  up  by  "  society,"  and  prob 
ably  would  not  be ;  therefore,  what  could  it  matter 
to  her? 

"  I  have  heard    you  make  a  better  argument," 


4  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

commented  the  visitor,  as  the  lawyer  paused.  "  It 
could  be,  and  is,  a  serious  matter  to  her.  I  hap 
pen  to  know  that  one  person,  at  least,  who  was 
very  friendly  toward  her,  has  been  affected  by  — 

"Oh,  pshaw!" 

"  You  have  set  every  gossip  in  this  town  to  talk 
ing  about  an  innocent  woman,"  insisted  the  sallow 
young  man,  icily. 

"Well,  it's  not  my  fault  if  they  do.  You  know 
how  people  will  talk.  I  intended  nothing  of  the 
sort.  But  look  here,  Morton,  you  must  be  in 
terested  in  that  quarter,"  laughed  the  young  law 
yer,  attempting  to  throw  his  interrogator  on  the 
defensive. 

"  I  am  not  even  acquainted  with  her,"  was  the 
haughty  retort.  "  I  have  merely  seen  her  come 
and  go  and  heard  people  speak  of  her  and  quote 
you.  But  I  am  interested  in  a  way ;  I  don't  like  to 
see  a  defenceless  woman  suffer  for  —  for  —  Let 
me  have  a  pen  and  a  piece  of  paper,  will  you?  " 

Morton  rose  as  he  uttered  the  last  words.  A 
slight  flush  appeared  on  his  sallow  cheek,  improv 
ing  his  appearance ;  but  the  lawyer  did  not  like  the 
stern,  determined  expression  of  his  eye,  and  was 
quick  to  vacate  the  desk  and  put  pen  and  paper  in 
place.  Morton  sat  down  and  wrote  deliberately, 
pausing  frequently  to  choose  his  words :  — 

"  I  hereby  solemnly  affirm  that  I  have  either  been  un 
accountably  misunderstood  or  maliciously  misquoted  in 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  5 

regard  to  Miss  Black,  a  lady  for  whom  I  feel  only  the  most 
profound  respect.  I  deeply  regret  that  her  name  should 
have  been  coupled  with  mine  in  any  way  annoying  to  her 
self,  and  earnestly  beg  her  pardon  for  any  word  or  deed 
on  my  part  which  may  have  led  thereto." 

"  '  I  solemnly  affirm  that  I  lied'  would  be  more 
appropriate,"  was  Morton's  thought  as  he  rose, 
"  but  he  will  like  it  better  in  this  shape.  I  'd  rather 
avoid  a  quarrel  if  I  can,"  he  said  aloud,  looking 
squarely  into  the  lawyer's  eye,  "  but  I  must  ask 
you  to  sign  this  paper.  I  am  determined  on  see 
ing  that  young  lady  vindicated,  and  I  want  this 
paper  —  after  you  have  signed  it  —  to  show  to 
those  people  who  are  talking  about  her,  so  as  to 
stop  their  mouths." 

"I  won't  sign  any  paper,"  said  Thomas,  with 
suppressed  anger  and  slightly  changed  color,  refus 
ing  what  was  handed  to  him  ;  4<  but  I  '11  tell  you  what 
I  will  do,  although  it  is  no  business  of  yours :  I  '11 
go  around  and  tell  the  boys  that  I  did  n't  mean  it, 
—  that  it  was  all  a  joke.  And  I  '11  do  it  for  Miss 
Francie's  sake  ;  not  because  you  —  you  - 

"  If  I  could  be  sure  that  you  would,  and  that 
they  'd  —  shut  up,  I  'd  be  glad  enough  to  drop  it 
at  that ;  but  no,  it  won't  do.  The  matter  has  gone 
too  far.  Just  read  what  I  have  written,  will  you  ? 
To  sign  this  can 't  put  you  in  a  much  worse  light 
than  to  do  what  you  propose." 

Thomas  reluctantly  took  the  paper,  read  it,  and 


6  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

dashed  it  excitedly  down  on  the  desk, —  amaze 
ment,  alarm,  anger,  pictured  vividly  on  his  face. 

"Will  you  sign  it?" 

"  No,  I  won't.  You  must  be  crazy,  Bob  Morton, 
if  you  —  " 

"  Then  you  will  have  to  fight  me.  Understand 
that.  I  am  going  to  make  you  sign  that  paper  if 
—  if — no  matter  what  it  costs." 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  the  tiger  in  the  eyes  of 
each  as  they  stood  glaring  at  each  other,  although 
Thomas's  manner  was  rather  that  of  threatening 
bluster,  compared  with  the  unconquerable  deter 
mination  written  in  every  line  of  Morton's  face. 
It  was  not  long  before  the  eyes  of  the  one  quailed 
before  the  eyes  of  the  other.  The  lawyer  was  con 
vinced  that  his  visitor  was  a  brave  man,  while,  as 
to  his  own  courage,  he  suffered  from  grave  doubts. 
All  at  once  he  collapsed  into  the  chair  before  the 
desk  and  bent  his  head  to  look  again  at  the  paper. 

"  After  all,"  he  said,  in  a  shaken  voice,  between 
quick  breaths,  "  it  is  no  more  than  I  would  freely 
say  to  anybody.  I  —  I  never  meant  to  do  her  any 
harm,  and  if —  I  '11  sign  it,"  he  concluded,  "  for 
Miss  Francie's  sake,  and  [he  took  up  a  pen  and 
wrote  his  name]  and  then  I'll  fight  you!" 

"  I  hope  you  will  think  better  of  that,"  said  Mor 
ton,  more  mildly,  after  possessing  himself  of  the 
document.  "  But  if  you  insist  on  it,  you  '11  know 
where  to  find  me."  He  then  turned  and  walked 
deliberately  out  of  the  room  and  down  the  stairs. 


THE    SONS   OF  HAM.  7 

"  And  now  he  '11  go  showin'  it  to  everybody," 
sighed  Mr.  Samuel  Thomas,  casting  a  fretful,  angry 
glance  toward  Bismarck,  and  another  toward  Glad 
stone,  as  if  to  accuse  these  patron  saints  of  having 
failed  in  their  duty  of  protection.  Receiving  no 
expression  of  regret  or  sympathy  from  those  quar 
ters,  the  young  man's  troubled  eyes  travelled  back 
to  his  desk  and  rested  on  the  two  bottles  of  beer. 
A  moment  later  he  poured  out  a  brimming  glass, 
swallowed  it  at  a  draught,  then  thrusting  his  hands 
deep  into  his  pockets  and  resting  his  chin  on  his 
breast,  he  ruminated. 

Suddenly  the  sound  of  a  loud,  continuous  laugh 
—  a  laugh  of  the  "  horse  "  variety —  reverberated 
up  the  stairway  which  led  from  the  hall  just  outside 
of  his  door  to  the  street.  Roused  instantly  from 
his  troubled  reflections,  Thomas  got  swiftly  upon 
his  feet,  glaring  about  him.  He  knew  that  laugh 
and  leaped  to  a  conclusion. 

"  He  's  showin'  it  already,"  he  growled.  "  He  's 
showin'  it  to  Bud  Mitchell."  The  unhappy  man 
listened  intently,  his  face  drawn  up  in  a  frown  and 
his  eyes  full  of  rage,  as  the  echoes  of  more  than  one 
laughing  voice  rolled  up  the  stairway  and  subsided. 
"  I  '11  get  even  with  Bob  Morton,"  he  burst  out 
furiously,  "  if  I  —  if  I  have  to  ruin  myself!  " 

It  was  indeed  as  he  supposed;  Morton  was 
"  showin'  it  already,"  and  he  was  determined 
to  continue  showing  it  until  the  whole  town  had 
the  news.  Beginning  with  the  stentorian-lunged 


8  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

"  Bud "  Mitchell  and  a  few  others  who  quickty 
gathered  round  and  joined  in  the  laughter  and  ex 
pressions  of  astonishment  instantly  provoked  by 
"  Sam  Thomas's  proclamation,"  -  -  so  it  was  face 
tiously  termed  by  one  of  the  group,  —  he  passed 
down  the  street,  stopping  here  and  there  to  invite 
some  acquaintance  to  inspect  the  interesting 
document. 

The  street  was  in  the  centre  of  the  business 
quarter,  but  there  was  little  noise  or  stir;  although 
September  was  at  hand  and  cotton  was  "  coming 
in,"  -  —  a  half-dozen  wagons  with  a  bale  or  two  each 
were  in  sight,  —  the  business  season  had  hardly 
opened.  Here  and  there  a  salesman  was  seen 
idling  at  the  door  of  the  long  low  brick  stores,  and 
in  some  cases  the  merchants  themselves  sat  out 
side,  their  chairs  tilted  against  the  brick  wall,  con 
versing  for  the  most  part  about  commercial  matters ; 
here  and  there  a  white  loafer  or  negro  vagrant  was 
seen  shuffling  aimlessly  along,  and  from  the  gen 
eral  aspect  of  affairs,  a  stranger  would  have  guessed 
far  below  the  volume  of  business  done  in  the  town 
within  a  year.  Morton  walked  down  the  quiet 
street  in  the  shade  of  the  ubiquitous  China  trees, 
choosing  to  commune  with  such  persons  as  he 
judged  would  the  most  quickly  spread  the  story  he 
had  to  tell.  Two  men  standing  with  their  shoulders 
against  the  same  tree  and  nervously  whittling  small 
bits  of  white  pine  as  they  talked,  were  among  the 
first  who  were  thus  favored.  A  little  farther  on, 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  9 

another,  who  was  very  tall  and  thin  and  stood 
statue-like  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets  and  one 
foot  in  a  chair,  suggesting  a  sleeping  stork  or  crane, 
was  roused  from  a  revery  and  asked  to  read  the 
paper  thrust  beneath  his  nose.  Still  farther  on, 
the  determined  young  man  stepped  into  the  sandy 
street  and  craved  a  word  with  one  of  two  mer 
chants  who  were  standing  about  a  bale  of  cotton 
exposed  in  a  cart  for  sale,  digging  deep  into  it  for  a 
genuine  sample.  A  few  minutes  later  several 
young  men  in  a  drug  store  were  communed  with 
in  turn.  In  every  case  the  favored  individual  ex 
amined  the  paper  eagerly  as  soon  as  its  nature  was 
understood,  expressing  great  amusement  and  sur 
prise,  some  being  moved  to  swear  mildly  and  de 
clare  that  in  all  their  days  they  had  never  seen  the 
like,  and  that  it  was  certainly  "  a  good  one  on  Sam 
Thomas." 

"  He  '11  never  hear  the  last  of  his  '  proclama 
tion/  "  said  one,  chuckling.  "  The  whole  town  will 
be  laughing  at  him  by  night." 

Turning  the  corner  on  the  way  to  his  office, 
Morton  almost  ran  into  a  grizzled  veteran,  com 
manding  in  build  and  fine  of  feature,  who  bade  him 
good-day  with  pronounced  cordiality. 

"  I  think  you  would  like  to  see  this,  Colonel  San- 
ford,"  said  the  young  man,  offering  the  paper  for 
perhaps  the  twentieth  time. 

"  What!  "  ejaculated  the  veteran,  as  he  absorbed 
its  import.  "  I  knew  it.  I  liked  that  girl  from 


io  THE   SONS  OF  HAM. 

the  first.  I  —  but — of  course  —  I  couldn't  be 
sure.  How  did  Sam  Thomas  happen  to  sign  such 
a  paper? " 

"I  —  I  got  him  to  do  it  —  after  —  after  he  con 
fessed  that  he  —  that  those  reports  were  not  true." 

"You  made  him  do  it!     I  see." 

Morton  dropped  his  eyes  before  his  friend's 
look  of  undisguised  admiration  and  hurried  on,  as 
cending  to  his  office ;  for  he,  too,  was  a  lawyer, 
although  as  yet  only  upon  the  threshold  of  his 
profession.  The  room  was  even  more  sparsely  fur 
nished  than  the  office  just  visited,  but  contained 
twice  as  many  books,  these  not  being  confined  to 
the  law  alone.  Locking  the  "  proclamation  "  in  a 
drawer  and  pocketing  the  key,  he  sat  down  before 
his  desk  and  fell  into  revery. 

"  He  will  be  twitted  about  this  until  he  is  furi 
ous,"  was  the  young  man's  thought,  "  and  he  may 
screw  his  courage  up  to  the  point  of  demanding  a 
fight,  —  he  may  challenge  me.  Well,  let  him.  My 
chances  are  as  good  as  his,  and  right  will  be  on  my 
side.  But  I  hope  it  won't  come  when  a  chill  threat 
ens.  I  wonder  if  I  shall  ever  get  rid  of  these 
wretched  chills.  This  the  day  for  one,  by  the  way." 

Suddenly  he  wheeled  round  and  took  a  book 
from  the  shelves.  It  was  a  well-worn  volume  of 
"  Blackstone,"  and  as  he  opened  it,  his  eye  fell  on 
the  words,  "  A  gift  against  the  innocent  he  ac 
cepted  not,"  written  in  faded  ink  on  the  fly-leaf. 

"  My  father  meant  it  when  he  wrote  that  quota- 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  11 

tion,"  was  Morton's  instant  reflection.  "He  never 
accepted  a  reward  at  the  expense  of  the  innocent. 
That  is  the  kind  of  a  lawyer  he  was,  and  I  hope 
always  to  be  like  him.  Sam  Thomas  will  take  any 
sort  of  business  he  can  lay  his  hands  on,  but  I  will 
starve  before  I  will  do  it." 

Miss  Francie  Black  was  a  native  of  Boston,  but 
had  been  a  resident  of  Barcelona,  Ga.,  now  about 
two  months.  Her  father  being  only  a  sub-book 
keeper  with  an  increasing  family,  at  eighteen  she 
had  felt  it  necessary  to  exert  herself  and  for  five 
years  had  served  for  a  moderate  return  in  a  photo 
grapher's  establishment.  A  slight  cough  and  an 
advantageous  offer  had  brought  her  South,  and  she 
had  not  as  yet  regretted  the  change.  She  was 
good-looking,  intelligent,  and  capable,  what  is  usu 
ally  termed  "  a  nice  girl."  She  was  much  too 
young,  and  too  lonely  in  her  new  situation,  not  to  be 
pleased  with  the  attentions  of  as  agreeable  a  young 
man  as  Sam  Thomas,  whose  office  was  next  door, 
and  it  is  possible  that  she  allowed  their  acquain 
tance  to  progress  a  little  too  rapidly.  She  had 
made  one  or  two  other  friends,  among  them  Colonel 
Sanford,  a  leading  man  of  the  town,  whom  she 
greatly  admired  and  who  appeared  to  have  a  com 
mensurate  fancy  for  herself,  to  judge  from  his  atti 
tude,  he  having  stopped  at  the  photographer's  to 
chat  with  her  a  number  of  times,  and  his  daughters 
being  the  only  ladies  who  had  as  yet  called  on  her. 
But  within  the  past  week  or  ten  days  she  had 


12  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

observed  an  unaccountable  change  in  these  few 
friends.  Colonel  Sanford,  for  instance,  whose  smile 
had  been  so  pleasing,  now  passed  her  on  the  street 
with  a  distant  nod  and  came  no  more  into  the  pho 
tographer's,  although  his  law  office  was  but  two 
doors  distant. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  Morton  went 
about  showing  that  curious  paper,  however,  the 
colonel  again  appeared  at  the  photographer's,  and 
with  more  than  his  former  cordiality  announced  to 
the  surprised  young  lady  that  he  was  commissioned 
by  his  wife  to  bring  her  home  to  supper  the  follow 
ing  evening.  Miss  Black  mentally  remarked  that 
she  heartily  disliked  people  who  were  cordial  by 
fits  and  starts,  but  admitted  that  it  was  impossible 
to  resist  Colonel  Sanford,  and  she  accepted  the 
invitation  with  every  evidence  of  pleasure.  When 
her  friend  had  retired  and  she  went  on  with  her 
work,  the  brief  history  of  her  life  in  Barcelona  was 
reviewed,  and  she  tried  to  account  for  the  strange, 
apparently  capricious  behavior  of  her  few  new 
found  friends,  wondering  if  she  had  done  anything 
to  offend,  or  if  such  caprice  were  merely  character 
istic  of  these  folk  of  the  far  South.  Realizing  that 
she  had  cherished  many  illusions  with  regard  to 
them,  some  of  which  had  promptly  been  dispelled, 
she  wisely  decided  not  to  be  in  too  great  a  hurry 
to  form  conclusions. 

She  came  South  expecting  to  find  the  most  in 
tense  heat,  a  landscape  composed  almost  entirely 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  13 

of  immense  steaming  cotton-fields,  a  people  who, 
for  the  most  part,  lay  around  in  a  state  of  semi- 
coma  and  were  active  only  in  the  use  of  their  fans. 
The  activity  in  Barcelona  was  one  of  her  greatest 
surprises;  she  found  that  farmers,  carpenters,  etc., 
worked  from  sun  to  sun,  and  that  merchants  or 
their  employees  were  in  harness  from  twelve  to  fif 
teen  hours  a  day.  She  mentioned  the  matter  to 
Colonel  Sanford,  who  as  usual  laughed,  reminding 
her  that  Georgia  was  in  the  temperate  zone,  and  that 
greed  of  gain  inspired  people  to  overwork  there 
just  as  it  did  everywhere  else  in  the  world.  The 
colonel  added  that,  after  all,  the  facts  did  not  jus 
tify  the  current  notion  that  a  hot  climate  is  a  foe  to 
progress.  All  our  earliest  recorded  civilizations 
belonged  to  regions  which,  if  not  tropical,  almost 
equal  the  tropics  in  intensity  of  heat.  The  enforced 
inertness  during  the  noontide  glare  in  such  locali 
ties  may  indeed  be  an  evidence  of  enervation,  but 
there  is  a  compensating  energy  during  the  cooler 
parts  of  the  twenty-four  hours. 

As  she  grew  up  Miss  Black  had  heard  and  read 
much  about  the  down-trodden  negro,  and  had  sup 
posed  that  the  spectacle,  to  put  it  figuratively  ^  of 
a  white  foot  on  a  black  neck  was  to  be  seen  every 
day.  But  on  arriving  in  Barcelona,  although  she 
was  quickly  made  aware  that  a  most  intense  race 
antipathy  really  existed,  she  saw  the  blacks  coming 
and  going,  idling  or  working,  in  perfect  freedom, 
with  no  sign  of  molestation  whatever,  and,  what 


I4  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

was  still  more  surprising,  a  great  many  of  them 
were  fairly  prosperous.  During  the  first  week  or 
two,  her  interest  in  these  people  led  her  to 
visit  them  in  their  little  houses,  and,  when  the  place 
was  not  too  dirty,  to  sit  down  and  talk  with  them. 
But  she  soon  gave  up  this  practice,  not  because  she 
realized  that  she  did  violence  to  local  prejudice,  — 
such  a  motive  would  have  involved,  she  thought,  an 
abject  surrender  of  her  independence  and  ideals ; 
but  simply  because  the  negro  at  close  quarters  and 
in  gross  reality  failed  to  engage  her  sympathy  and 
imagination  as  he  had  done  at  a  distance.  Strange 
as  it  may  seem,  her  interest  in  him  fast  weakened 
and  was  finally  lost. 

She  was  wondering  if  it  could  be  this,  her  inter 
est  in  the  negro,  which  had  temporarily  displeased 
her  Barcelona  friends,  when  her  employer  entered 
and  handed  her  a  letter.  The  information  that  it 
contained  was,  in  brief,  that  her  aunt,  a  Mrs.  Blos 
som  of  Philadelphia,  intended  wintering  in  Florida 
and  the  West  Indies,  and  that  sometime  in  October, 
while  on  her  way,  she  contemplated  stopping  for  a 
day  or  so  in  Barcelona.  The  halt  would,  of  course, 
be  made  for  the  sole  reason  of  seeing  her  niece, 
there  being  nothing  to  interest  her  in  a  small  in 
terior  Georgia  town.  The  writer  mentioned  that 
she  would  be  accompanied  by  one  Paul  Shepherd, 
her  husband's  nephew,  a  young  man  unknown  to 
her  niece.  Miss  Black  felt  pleased,  but  somewhat 
troubled.  She  had  never  seen  her  aunt,  who  was 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  75 

very  wealthy  and  never  visited  or  kept  up  cordial 
relations  with  her  less  fortunate  sister  in  Boston ;  it 
seemed  odd  that  such  a  person  should  give  herself 
the  trouble  to  visit  a  relative  whom  she  had  hither 
to  made  no  effort  to  see,  and  who  was,  from  her 
standpoint,  only  a  poor  working  girl. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  when  going  to  the  neigh 
boring  post-office  in  order  to  mail  her  response, 
which  expressed  gratification  at  the  prospect  of 
the  visit,  Miss  Black  met  Morton,  who  lifted  his 
hat  but  did  not  look  directly  at  her.  In  Barcelona 
no  gentleman  ever  passed  even  a  strange  lady 
without  acknowledging  her  presence  in  some  such 
fashion.  Although  not  an  acquaintance,  Miss  Black 
had  long  since  learned  the  young  man's  name ; 
something  about  him  attracted  her  and  she  amused 
herself  a  good  deal  with  speculations  concerning 
him.  Her  quick  eye  now  told  her  that  his  should 
ers  drooped  forward,  that  he  seemed  to  shiver,  and 
just  as  he  passed  her  she  heard  his  teeth  chatter. 
The  chill  had  come  and  he  was  now  on  his  way 
home. 

Returning  a  few  minutes  later,  she  exchanged  a 
smile  and  a  bow  with  Sam  Thomas,  who  passed 
rapidly  in  a  hack  bound  for  a  railway  station  in  a 
distant  part  of  the  town.  She  saw  that  he  had  a 
travelling  bag  and  supposed  that  he  was  off  for  a 
stay  of  several  days;  she  wondered  that  she  had 
not  seen  him  during  the  day,  he  who  usually  came 
and  went  on  the  street  at  all  hours,  and  was  far 


16  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

from  guessing  why  he  had  secluded  himself.  Upon 
mature  reflection  this  cautious  young  man  had  con 
cluded  not  to  seek  an  encounter  with  Morton,  but 
to  "  fight"  him  as  occasion  offered  in  a  way  that 
would  prove  more  effective,  make  no  noise,  and  in 
volve  no  personal  danger.  He  also  decided,  as  he 
himself  would  have  stated  it,  not  to  "face  the  mu 
sic,"  —  the  fire  of  irritating  jest  and  raillery  which 
his  "  proclamation "  would  inevitably  provoke  in 
certain  quarters,  —  but  to  pack  his  bag  and  devote 
two  or  three  weeks  to  looking  after  his  interests  in 
a  neighboring  county. 


II. 


ITS  history  was  by  no  means  as  brief  as  that  of 
countless  mushroom  communities  in  the  West 
which  spring  up  and  attain  to  a  giddy  prosperity 
within  a  year,  but  Barcelona  was  relatively  a  new 
town.  It  had  been  settled  during  the  war  by  ref 
ugees  from  the  exposed  coast  cities  and  planta 
tions,  and  had  grown  from  their  children  and 
accessions  from  the  homespun  provincials  of  the 
surrounding  interior.  After  the  lapse  of  twenty- 
five  years  the  difference  between  the  cracker  and 
the  more  gentle  refugee  was  almost  as  marked  as 
at  the  beginning,  although  the  native,  more  readily 
adapting  himself  to  the  changed  conditions  of  a 
new  era,  had  gradually  become  prosperous  and  was 
beginning  to  take  the  lead  in  public  affairs,  —  the 
other  more  unfortunate  element  for  the  most  part 
losing  ground  in  corresponding  ratio.  However, 
except  where  the  more  intimate  concerns  of  life 
were  involved,  as  those  of  marrying  and  giving  in 
marriage,  there  was  no  lack  of  friendship,  or  in 
deed  of  hearty  good-fellowship,  between  these  two 
elements.  The  presence  of  a  common  danger, 

2 


1 8  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

whether  real  or  fancied,  impelled  them  to  stand 
together  and  expose  an  unbroken  front  to  the  view 
of  that  absolutely  distinct  and  extraneous  body 
composed  of  freed  slaves  who  lacked  but  a  little  of 
equalling  the  combined  forces  of  their  white  neigh 
bors.  But,  although  regarded  en  bloc  as  a  grow 
ing  menace  to  the  well-being  and  safety  of  the 
town  and  country,  the  black  man  as  an  individual 
was  for  the  most  part  neither  regarded  nor  treated 
as  an  enemy  ;  indeed,  in  so  far  as  he  was  industri 
ous  and  did  not  seek  public  office,  he  was  often 
esteemed  as  a  useful  member  of  society.  Tempo 
rarily  at  least,  the  two  races  were  mutually  depend 
ent  on  each  other,  and  the  situation  was  and  is  full 
of  inconsistencies  and  curious  complications. 

In  this  much-mixed  community,  among  the 
smart  new  houses  and  blooming  gardens  oY  the 
more  prosperous  Barcelonans,  here  and  there  was 
still  to  be  seen  a  dilapidated  home  where  shabby 
respectability  lurked  behind  closed  doors,  linking 
the  past  era  of  profound  depression  with  the  more 
agreeable  present.  One  of  these,  which  stood  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  town,  a  wide,  low  house  with 
almost  as  many  piazzas  as  rooms,  stretching  them 
out  like  wings,  and  seeming  to  spread  itself  lazily 
on  its  brick  legs  like  a  squatting  fowl  on  a  sum 
mer's  day,  had  doubtless  been  in  need  of  fresh 
paint  for  fifteen  years.  It  faced  a  quiet  street, 
along  which  stood  oak  and  China  trees,  and  had  a 
somewhat  imposing  front,  a  series  of  tall  wooden 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  19 

columns,  white  now  no  more,  mounted  on  brick 
pedestals  and  supporting  the  ornamented  over 
reaching  roof  of  the  piazza.  The  front  yard,  once 
a  pretty  flower  garden,  was  now  a  troubled  scene 
of  untrimmed  rose-bushes,  cape  jessamines,  white 
and  pink  oleanders,  and  young  cedar-trees.  In  the 
large  back  yard  were  a  few  equally  neglected  fig 
and  orange  trees  and  crepe  myrtles,  besides  the 
everywhere  conspicuous  China-tree  to  furnish 
shade.  Beyond  this  was  a  separate  inclosure  in 
tended  for  vegetables,  and  adjoining  it,  a  field  of 
two  or  three  acres  devoted  to  rice,  which  sloped 
downward  to  the  low  pine  bottoms  environing  this 
portion  of  the  town. 

The  only  sign  of  life  about  the  place  as  Sam 
Thomas  drove  by  on  his  way  to  the  station  was  a 
young  girl  who  sat  on  the  secluded  back  piazza 
engaged  in  sewing.  Had  she  not  been  screened 
from  observation,  the  most  casual  of  observers 
would  have  noted  that  she  worked  with  an  anxious, 
hurried  air  and  was  not  in  a  tranquil  state  of  mind. 
After  a  careful  scrutiny  a  physician  would  doubt 
less  have  guessed  that  she  was  not  in  the  habit  of 
receiving  a  proper  share  of  nourishing  food.  Al 
though  unquestionably  very  young,  her  expres 
sion,  as  she  now  sat  in  troubled  thought,  was  that 
of  a  mature  woman  ;  it  was  clear  that  she  was 
thinner  than  she  had  once  been,  and  there  was 
a  drawn  look  about  her  mouth  curiously  at  vari 
ance  with  the  strength  and  joyousness  of  youth. 


20  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

Yet  Reba  Lawrence  was  distinguished  by  unusual 
beauty,  —  not  so  much  the  beauty  of  delicate  out 
line  and  color,  though  that  was  not  absent,  as  of 
an  inner  loveliness  which  seemed  to  shine  forth 
through  her  large,  dark  eyes. 

Her  story  was  not  a  cheerful  one.  As  was  the 
case  with  so  many  other  refugees,  her  father's 
broken  fortunes  had  effectually  prevented  his  return 
and  resumption  of  former  place  and  position,  and 
he  had  begun  life  anew  under  sadly  changed  con 
ditions  in  Barcelona.  Soon  after  the  war  was  over 
he  invested  his  all  in  the  meagre  outfit  of  a  small 
country  newspaper,  as  editor  and  publisher  of 
which  he  succeeded,  however,  in  providing  his  wife 
and  daughter  with  more  comforts  than  were 
enjoyed  by  many  of  their  neighbors  in  those  days 
of  widespread  distress.  He  was  able  even  to  secure 
for  his  only  remaining  child  (the  two  grown  sons 
having  fallen  in  battle)  fair  educational  advantages 
while  she  grew  up.  When  she  was  sixteen  he  died, 
and,  at  the  advice  of  Colonel  Sanford,  the  widow 
sold  the  paper  and  invested  the  proceeds  in  rail 
road  stock.  Owning  their  home  and  having  now 
from  this  source  an  income  of  a  little  over  $300  a 
year,  the  mother  and  daughter,  by  carefully  filing 
down  their  expenses,  had  managed  to  live.  But 
within  less  than  two  years  Mrs.  Lawrence  broke 
down  and  became  a  confirmed  invalid,  her  pro 
found  and  continuing  grief  having  complicated  an 
old  nervous  affection.  After  that  she  scarcely  ever 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  21 

left  her  chamber  and  never  left  the  house,  the 
management  of  the  household  and  all  business 
affairs  devolving  upon  Reba,  who  was  less  than 
eighteen.  All  went  well  enough,  however,  for  two 
years  longer,  until  the  railroad  went  into  the  hands 
of  a  receiver  and  the  stockholders  ceased  to  draw 
their  dividends. 

Resolved  to  keep  the  news  of  this  disaster  from 
her  suffering  mother  as  long  as  possible,  Reba 
went  to  consult  Colonel  Sanford,  who  assured  her 
there  would  be  no  opportunity  to  sell  the  stock  for 
a  long  while  to  come,  and  offered  her  a  loan.  This 
she  declined,  telling  him  they  had  been  able  to 
save  some  money,  and  omitting  to  mention  that  the 
amount  saved  was  not  quite  fifty  dollars. 

When  little  more  than  nineteen  Reba  Lawrence 
was  confronted  with  the  problem  of  caring  for  an 
invalid  mother,  not  to  speak  of  herself,  for  an 
indefinite  period  on  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars.  She 
had  two  devoted  young  cousins  in  the  town, 
Charles  and  Betty  Walton,  in  whom  she  might 
have  confided  with  some  expectation  of  assistance, 
their  step-father,  one  Adam  Brown,  being  a  very 
prosperous  man;  but  she  felt  that  starvation  alone 
could  drive  her  to  appeal  to  him,  everything  con 
sidered.  Resolving  to  battle  for  herself  to  the  last 
if  possible,  she  immediately  set  about  reducing  the 
expenses  of  the  household,  and  considered  how  she 
might  earn  something  by  means  of  labor  done  at 
home.  She  promptly  had  a  reckoning  with,  and 


22  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

dismissed  the  negro  girl  who  came  three  times  a 
day  and  cooked  the  three  meals ;  she  sent  no  more 
regular  orders  to  the  grocery  store,  and  decided 
that  she  would  hereafter  go  out  less  than  ever  and 
need  not  buy  any  more  clothes ;  she  engaged  an 
old  negro,  a  former  slave  of  the  family  who  was 
fond  of  her,  to  cultivate  the  vegetable  garden  and 
rice  patch  on  shares;  she  made  an  arrangement 
with  a  twelve-year-old  white  boy  who  lived  on  a 
small  farm  just  out  of  town,  and  whose  parents 
were  too  poor  to  send  him  to  school,  by  which  he 
was  to  come  twice  a  week  and  cut  wood  or  do 
other  small  jobs,  and  she  in  return  would  give  him 
an  hour's  instruction  in  reading  or  writing;  and, 
finally  she  determined  to  solicit  plain  sewing. 
All  this  was  done  quietly,  almost  secretly,  that  the 
mother  might  not  know,  and  that  their  friends 
might  be  kept  in  ignorance  of  their  desperate 
need. 

It  was  this  consideration  which  led  her  to  seek 
sewing  among  the  blacks  rather  than  the  whites. 
Josephine  Witherspoon,  a  good-natured  young 
negress,  who  had  been  a  slave  in  the  family  as  a 
child,  solicited  the  work  for  her  and  collected,  or 
tried  to  collect,  the  money.  Josephine  had  re 
mained  on  friendly  terms  with  the  family,  and  for 
many  years  had  made  them  a  periodical  visit, 
always  going  away  well  pleased  with  a  gift  of  some 
sort,  which  for  some  time  past  had  usually  been  a 
garment  no  longer  of  any  use  to  the  invalid  Mrs. 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  23 

Lawrence.  This  hopeful  copartnership  resulted  in 
a  heavy  addition  to  Reba's  other  cares  and  but  a 
trifling  pecuniary  return ;  for  if  she  advanced  her 
price  for  making  a  calico  dress  beyond  seventy-five 
cents,  she  received  no  more  orders,  and,  what  was 
worse,  as  a  rule  Josephine  was  not  able  to  collect 
more  than  one-half  of  what  was  due,  and  sometimes 
nothing  at  all. 

During  six  months,  by  incessant  effort,  by  the 
most  careful  economy,  and  by  the  help  of  the  fifty 
dollars  on  hand,  the  girl  was  able  to  keep  her 
mother  barely  comfortable,  and  herself  from  starv 
ing.  But  not  until  the  last  dollar  of  that  hoarded 
sum  had  disappeared  did  the  real  pinch  begin. 
Then  it  was  that  Mrs.  Lawrence,  a  patient  woman 
by  nature,  began  to  complain  and  demand  the  why 
and  the  wherefore  of  this  and  that,  and  poor  Reba 
to  make  evasive  excuses.  Then  it  was,  too,  that  the 
girl  began  to  cook  for  her  mother  alone  and  to  eat 
only  what  was  left.  Having  now  battled  with  this 
last  extremity  for  many  weeks,  it  is  not  wonderful 
that  she  had  grown  thin  in  spite  of  her  youth  and 
strength. 

As  she  reflected  upon  the  desperate  situation 
now,  scalding  tears  fell  upon  the  garment  she  was 
making.  But,  although  nearly  always  hungry, 
Reba  was  not  always  unhappy,  having  attained  to 
a  certain  resignation  and  learned  to  feed  on  hope. 
Misfortune  sours  some  dispositions,  but  softens 
others ;  it  is  thus  that  hardships  bless  us  when  they 
seem  a  curse. 


24  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

Aroused  by  the  sound  of  the  side  gate,  the 
girl  looked  up  and  saw  a  portly,  smiling  negress 
advancing  across  the  yard,  carrying  a  bundle 
wrapped  in  a  newspaper. 

"  How  you  come  on,  Miss  Reba?"  she  inquired 
cheerily,  as  she  lifted  her  great  weight  up  the  piazza 
steps  with  slow  and  stately  dignity.  "  I  brung  you 
another  dress  to  make,"  she  announced,  opening 
her  bundle  and  exhibiting  a  piece  of  flowered 
calico. 

"Thank  you,  Josephine.     Whose  is  it?" 

"  Rosetta  Hightower's.  She  say  she  want  it  tight 
in  de  wais'.  She  say  she  don't  care  ef  hit  do  hurt 
her,  she  got  to  have  it  tight  in  de  wais'." 

"What  a  giddy  thing  she  must  be." 

"  She  ain't  got  no  sense,"  declared  Josephine 
Witherspoon,  emphatically.  "  Now  me,  I  won't  do 
dat.  I  don't  care  ef  I  is  fat,  I  ain't  gwine  to  choke 
myself  in  de  wais1  dat-a  way." 

The  visitor  had  observed  that  the  girl's  eyes  were 
tearful,  and  was  now  well  pleased  to  see  her  laugh 
ing  heartily.  "  Anyhow,  I  '11  have  to  cut  it  by  the 
pattern,"  said  Reba. 

"  She  had  dat  pattern  cut  too  small  a-purpose. 
Dese  young  gals  ain't  got  no  mo*  sense  'n  chillun. 
I  seen  Susan  comin'  'long,"  Josephine  continued, 
"and  she  tole  me  she  want  you  to  make  her  a 
dress,  too." 

"Which  Susan?" 

"  Dat  Susan  wut  cook  for  Mis'  Whittin'ton,  — 
Susan  Brown." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  25 

"  I  made  one  for  her  last  spring,  and  she  has  n't 
paid  for  that  yet." 

"  I  know  it,  and  I  tole  her  so,  too,"  said  Josephine, 
in  great  indignation.  "  I  tole  her  ef  she  did  n't  git 
up  dat  money  and  pay  it,  I  'd  everlas'nly  beat  her 
all  over  dis  town." 

"  Let  her  keep  it  rather  than  do  that.  But  I 
wish  you  would  collect  it  if  you  possibly  can." 

"  Oh,  yuh's  de  money  I  cleckted  from  Sally 
John,"  said  Josephine,  producing  a  handkerchief 
and  untying  a  knot  in  one  end  of  it.  "  Fifty  cents 
is  all  she  gim  me.  I  don't  b'lieve  she  'low  to  pay  de 
other  twenty-five  cents.  Howyo'  ma,  Miss  Reba?  " 

"  About  the  same." 

Reba  now  rose  and  disappeared  through  the 
back  hall-door,  returning  presently  with  a  bundle 
which  she  presented  to  the  waiting  black  woman. 
"  I  went  through  a  trunk  yesterday  and  found  sev 
eral  things  1  thought  you  could  make  use  of,"  she 
said. 

And  so  Josephine  departed,  well  satisfied  with 
this  exchange  of  substantial  courtesies.  Left  to  her 
self,  Reba  began  to  gather  up  her  work,  concluding 
that  it  was  too  late  to  sew  any  longer;  she  must 
go  in  and  see  how  her  mother  fared,  and  then  pre 
pare  something  for  her  supper.  As  she  entered 
the  long,  wide  hall  which  divided  the  house  into  two 
equal  halves,  she  heard  some  one  calling  her  from 
the  front  yard  or  the  street.  Going  out,  she  found 
that  her  presence  was  desired  by  a  slender,  well- 


26  THE   SONS  OF  HAM. 

dressed  young  lady,  hardly  to  be  called  handsome 
in  the  usual  sense  of  the  term,  but  about  whose 
colorless,  shapely  face,  and  clear,  intelligent  blue 
eyes  there  was  something  which  pleased  at  once 
and  by  and  by  strongly  attracted. 

"  Come  in,  Betty,"  called  Reba  from  the  piazza, 
as  the  visitor  remained  standing  at  the  gate. 

"  No,  you  come  here.  I  have  n't  time  to  go  in," 
replied  Miss  Betty  Walton,  positively.  No  one  was 
now  to  be  seen  on  the  quiet  street,  and  she  had  not 
hesitated  to  call  out  loudly.  "  I  stopped  a  minute 
because  I  had  something  to  tell  you,"  she  added. 

"  What  is  it?  "  asked  Reba,  drawing  near. 

"Well,  in  the  first  place,  Charlie— he  said  he 
did  n't  care  if  I  told  you  —  he  thinks  he  is  going  to 
win,  and  if  he  does,  he  wants  to  crown  yoti" 

"  Oh,  Betty  !  " 

"  They  Ve  been  practising  again  to-day  and  he 
beat  everybody." 

Reba  first  flushed  with  pleasure,  then  looked 
doubtful  and  reflective.  Betty  hurried  on :  — 

"  I  have  one  more  piece  of  news  to  communicate, 
and  then  I  must  go."  With  this  introduction  she 
told  a  story  which  her  step-father  had  brought 
home  at  noon  and  which  her  mother  had  repeated 
to  her  shortly  afterward,  — the  story  in  which  Miss 
Black,  Robert  Morton,  and  Samuel  Thomas  were 
the  dramatis  personce. 

"  Oh,  Betty,  did  he  do  that?  "  interrupted  the  lis 
tener,  as  soon  as  she  had  grasped  the  facts.  An 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  27 

unusual  light  shone  in  her  eyes,  which  her  cousin 
did  not  fail  to  note.  The  emphasized  pronoun  of 
course  referred  to  Morton. 

"Yes,  he  did,  and  I  only  wish  he  had 
thrashed  that  disgusting  Sam  Thomas  while  he  was 
about  it.  I  never  could  bear  that  man.  I  'm  going 
to  call  on  Miss  Black  sometime  soon,  and  I  want 
you  to  go  with  me.  Colonel  Sanford  asked  me  to 
go  two  or  three  weeks  ago." 

"  Does  he  —  does  he  visit  her?  "  asked  Reba. 

"  Not  that  I  know  of,"  said  Betty,  understanding 
perfectly  that  the  pronoun  did  not  refer  to  Colonel 
Sanford.  "  I  doubt  if  he  knows  her  at  all.  He 
was  disinterested,  I  'm  sure.  That 's  his  way." 

Betty  had  recklessly  announced  that  she  would 
stop  only  a  minute,  but  half  an  hour  or  more  had 
elapsed  when  she  finally  cut  short  the  conference 
and  hurried  away. 

In  that  chamber  of  Out-at-Elbow  Castle  —  so 
Reba  with  a  sad  smile  sometimes  called  it  —  which 
was  the  most  favored  as  to  sunshine,  air,  furnish 
ing  and  commodiousness  in  general,  a  pale-faced 
woman  lay  wearily  abed.  She  had  been  reading, 
but  the  light  had  failed  some  time  since  and  she 
now  patiently  awaited  the  appearance  of  her  daugh 
ter.  The  hollows  in  her  cheeks  and  the  lines  of 
care  about  her  mouth  were  not  prominent  in  the 
waning  light,  and  the  whiteness  of  her  hair,  com 
bined  with  the  perfect  regularity  of  her  features, 
suggested  a  marble  statue.  She  was  scarcely  fifty 


28  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

and  looked  seventy.  The  room  was  neat  and  not 
uncomfortable;  there  were  snowy  white  lace  cur 
tains,  a  few  pictures,  a  faded  lounge,  a  worn-out 
carpet,  a  fine  old  easy-chair  with  one  arm  gone,  and 
a  few  other  necessaries,  all  the  worse  for  wear. 

"  Was  that  Betty  calling  you  a  little  while  ago?  " 
asked  the  invalid  in  a  low,  gentle  voice,  as  Reba 
entered. 

"Yes,  mamma.  How  do  you  feel?  Are  you 
comfortable?  " 

Receiving  an  affirmative  answer,  the  girl  pro 
ceeded  to  throw  open  the  blinds  of  the  nearest 
window,  letting  in  more  light.  It  could  then  be 
seen  that  the  two  women  closely  resembled  each 
other,  although  a  careful  observer  would  have 
conjectured  that  the  daughter,  even  with  all  her 
delicacy  of  color,  the  charm  of  her  eyes,  and  her 
grace  of  movement,  was  distinguished  by  less  ex 
ternal  beauty  than  must  have  belonged  to  the 
mother  in  her  youth. 

"  Betty  says  Charlie  wants  to  crown  me  queen 
at  the  tournament  ball,  if  he  wins,"  announced 
Reba,  returning  from  the  window  with  a  pensive 
smile. 

"Would  you  like  him  to?  " 

"I  —  don't  know.  I  have  nothing  to  wear.  It 
ought  to  be  something  new." 

"  There  is  an  old  ball  dress  of  mine  wrapped  up 
in  linen  in  one  of  the  trunks,"  said  Mrs.  Lawrence, 
speculatively.  "  Perhaps  you  could  make  it  over. 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  29 

I  could  give  you  some  help.  Suppose  you  get  it 
out  and  show  it  to  Betty.  There  is  some  beautiful 
lace  on  it.  How  well  I  remember,"  she  added  with 
a  sigh,  "wearing  it  at  a  ball  in  London  just  before 
the  war  broke  out." 

Reba  showed  great  interest  in  the  suggestion, 
expressing  a  hope  that  the  old  gown  had  not 
changed  color. 

"Who  is  going  to  this  ball,  —  anybody  beside 
the  young  people?  "  Mrs.  Lawrence  then  asked. 

"  Betty  said  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Sanford  were  going." 

"  I  am  glad  of  that.  I  dislike  seeing  young 
girls  go  off  to  a  public  ball  all  alone.  When  I 
was  a  girl  I  was  always  matronized  at  a  ball. 
Betty  tells  me  that  not  one  married  woman  was 
present  at  those  dances  at  the  hall  last  winter.  It 
is  positively  shocking.  How  everything  is  changed. 
Cracker  customs  seem  to  prevail  nowadays.  I  am 
sorry  you  had  to  be  brought  up  in  this  part  of  the 
country." 

"  Some  of  the  girls  say,"  laughed  Reba,  "  that 
there  would  be  no  chances  to  flirt  if  chaperons 
were  always  around." 

"  It  might  be  well  if  some  of  them  had  their 
chances  in  that  direction  curtailed.  That,  how 
ever,  is  nonsense.  I  never  felt  that  I  was  deprived 
of  any  freedom  whatever." 

Reba's  thoughts  returned  to  the  story  just  told 
by  Betty  and  she  repeated  it  to  her  mother,  whose 
eyes  flashed  as  she  listened.  "  How  gallant!  "  she 


30  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

exclaimed.  "  They  are  of  the  right  sort,  those 
Mortons.  I  knew  his  father  well  in  the  old  days, 
and  he  was  one  of  the  most  honorable  of  men. 
They  were  refugees,  you  know.  That  girl  will  fall 
in  love  with  him  now." 

Reba  made  no  rejoinder  to  this  speculation,  and 
rose  to  leave  the  room.  It  was  now  growing  dark. 
"  I  must  go  and  get  you  something  to  eat,  and 
make  your  tea,"  she  said. 

"  Reba,  you  look  overworked  and  thin,"  said 
her  mother  anxiously.  "  You  are  doing  too  much ; 
you  won't  be  able  to  stand  the  cooking." 

"  I  have  stood  it  nine  months." 

"  You  seem  to  be  trying  harder  than  we  ever 
did  to  economize.  We  have  always  been  able  to 
afford  a  girl  to  do  the  heavier  work  about  the 
kitchen.  It  costs  very  little.  What  made  you 
turn  Susan  off  anyhow?  " 

"She  was  so  trifling  and  incompetent,"  was  the 
evasive  answer,  though  this  was  true  enough. 
"  And  her  ideas  were  too  high.  She  called  herself 
a  kitchen-lady,  and  with  some  reason.  She  never 
came  at  all  on  rainy  mornings,  and  toward  the 
last  she  sometimes  turned  up  as  late  as  nine 
o'clock,  and  in  a  carriage  to  boot.  We  are  too 
poor  to  afford  a  kitchen-lady." 

"  A  carriage?" 

"  One  of  those  ten-cent  hacks  driven  by  negro 
men." 

"  Truly,  the  bottom  rail  is  on  top,  to  quote 
Adam  Brown,"  said  Mrs.  Lawrence,  laughing. 


III. 


FOR  the  masses  it  was  not  as  great  an  event  as 
the  circus,  which  usually  shook  Malvern  County  to 
its  foundations,  as  well  as  its  neighbor  Richmond, 
collecting  the  people  almost  to  a  man  from  the 
whole  region  within  the  circumference  described 
by  a  radius  of  twenty  miles,  and  causing  camp- 
fires  to  burn  along  every  road  on  the  night  before 
the  great  day ;  but  still  the  "  tournament "  —  so  the 
great  riding  contest  was  called  —  was  no  small  sen 
sation  and  drew  a  large  crowd.  And  unquestion 
ably  it  furnished  entertainment  not  to  be  despised. 
True,  it  was  scarcely  a  faint  reminder  of  the  genu 
ine  tourney  of  the  middle  age ;  there  was  no  clash 
of  arms  to  quicken  the  pulse  and  light  the  eye  of 
the  old  soldier,  no  incidental  bloodshed  to  cloy 
the  taste  of  the  savage-hearted ;  but  yet  there  was 
a  charm.  The  mere  fact  of  a  contest  of  any  sort 
could  rivet  the  attention  of  these  spectators  who 
had  few  diversions  ;  and  there  was  no  little  charm 
in  the  perfect  horsemanship,  in  the  plumed  knights' 
gay  attire,  in  the  array  of  shapely  horses  that 


32  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

moved  with  such  spirit  and  held  their  heads  as 
proudly  as  even  their  masters  could  desire. 

The  scene  of  the  contest  was  an  extensive  area 
in  the  suburbs  of  Barcelona,  encircled  by  a  rough 
board-fence,  along  which,  amphitheatre  fashion, 
were  tiers  of  elevated  seats  of  the  same  material. 
These  seats  extended  less  than  one  third  of  the  way 
around  the  inclosure,  but  where  they  ended  a  long 
circling  line  of  wagons  and  other  vehicles  began, 
all  available  space  soon  being  taken  up.  By  ten 
o'clock  A.  M.,  the  time  set  for  the  opening  of  the 
contest,  not  only  were  these  seats  and  vehicles 
filled  to  the  overflow,  but  all  the  roofs  in  the  im 
mediate  vicinage  were  occupied  as  well.  Nearly 
half  the  spectators  were  black,  and  these  for  the 
most  part  flocked  together,  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Reba  was  present  in  the  company  of  her  cousin 
Betty,  and  her  aunt,  Mrs.  Brown.  The  latter,  to 
the  lasting  regret  of  Mrs.  Lawrence,  had  not  been 
a  refugee,  which  is  almost  equivalent  to  saying 
that  she  was  uneducated.  George  Walton,  a 
brother  of  Mrs.  Lawrence,  had  shocked  his  family 
by  marrying  a  pretty  native  cracker  girl  soon  after 
the  settling  of  the  refugees  in  Barcelona ;  ten  years 
later  he  died,  and  after  a  year  or  two  of  sincere 
mourning  his  widow,  to  the  dismay  of  her  sister- 
in-law,  presented  her  two  children,  Charles  and 
Elizabeth,  with  a  second  father  in  the  person  of 
one  Adam  Brown,  an  uneducated  farmer,  who 
afterwards  became  a  prosperous  and  prominent 
citizen  of  Barcelona. 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  33 

"Where's  Charlie?"  asked  Mrs.  Brown,  eagerly 
scanning  the  arena  the  moment  they  were  in  their 
seats.  "Does  anybody  see  Charlie?"  She  had 
lost  all  her  early  bloom,  but  the  gentle,  motherly 
expression  of  her  face  rescued  it  from  what  might 
be  termed  the  hopelessly  commonplace. 

Betty  promptly  pointed  her  brother  out.  "  Don't 
you  see  him  waiting  over  there  with  the  other 
riders  ? "  Yes,  there  he  was,  looking  very  hand 
some  and  knightly  in  his  broad-brimmed  black  hat 
with  its  long,  graceful  white  feather,  in  his  dark 
velvet  coat  with  its  gold  lace  trimmings  and  crim 
son  horseshoe  embroidered  just  below  his  left 
shoulder,  —  the  "  Knight  of  the  Horseshoe." 

"  I  hope  Mr.  Straitlace  won't  say  nothin',"  re 
marked  Mrs.  Brown  as  she  gazed  fondly  toward 
her  son.  "It's  the  ball  he  don't  like,  I  reckon; 
for  what  can  be  the  harm  o'  comin*  here  to  see 
'em  dash  round  and  take  the  rings,  especially 
when  Charlie 's  one  o'  the  ringleaders  and  papa 
got  something  to  do  with  it,  too.  Betty,  do  you 
see  papa?" 

"  He  's  over  there  at  the  judge's  stand." 

Mrs.  Brown  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief  and  content. 
With  "papa"  at  the  judge's  stand  and  her  own 
Charlie  one  of  the  "  ringleaders,"  why  should  n't 
she  be  there  to  look  on?  Where  else  should  she 
be,  all  the  reverend  Straitlaces  in  the  world  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding? 

3 


34  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"There's  Mr.  Jones,  Betty,"  said  Reba,  with  a 
smile. 

Her  smile  meant  that  the  young  man  was  the 
subject  of  jest  between  them.  "Jim"  Jones,  uni 
versally  so-called,  was  an  uneducated  young  farmer 
of  good  character  and  rustic  manners  and  speech ; 
but,  being  prosperous,  he  was  received  into  Barce 
lona's  best  circle,  prosperity  having  now  success 
fully  displaced  the  old-fashioned  "  good-family " 
standard.  He  was  really  a  shrewd  and  clever  man 
on  his  own  plane,  but  his  expression  was  dull,  his 
face  as  red  as  a  lobster,  and  his  hands  hard  and 
knotty  from  constant  rough  work.  Charlie  Walton 
was  also  a  farmer,  with  hands  hardened  by  manual 
labor,  but  the  two  men  were  totally  different. 
Young  Jones  was  often  invited  to  his  house  by 
Adam  Brown,  a  kindred  spirit,  and  had  recklessly 
fallen  in  love  with  Betty,  despite  her  chilling  recep 
tion  of  his  advances. 

"What's  that  on  his  coat?"  continued  Reba. 
"  Is  n't  it  a  plough  ?  I  like  that ;  it 's  quite  original, 
-  the  «  Knight  of  the  Plough.'  " 

"  Not  original  with  him,  poor  man,"  declared 
Betty.  "  Some  one  suggested  it  to  him,  I  'm 
sure." 

"  It  is  so  much  better  than  something  high 
sounding,"  said  Reba. 

"  Yes ;  fancy  Mr.  Jones  the  Knight  of  the  —  the 
—  Moonlight,  for  instance,"  laughed  Betty.  "  Of 
course  there  's  never  been  anything  quite  as  ridicu- 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  35 

lous  as  that,  but  Charlie  did  say  a  man  from  Rich 
mond  County  once  proposed  to  ride  as  the 
'  Knight  of  the  Blue-Eyed  Maiden/  but  fortu 
nately  yielded  to  entreaty.  And  there  was  one 
year  a  '  Don  Quixote  de  la  Mancha,  Knight  of  the 
Lions.' " 

"  Did  he  have  a  Sancho  Panza?  " 

"  Probably  not.  They  have  n't  introduced  squires, 
except  to  the  extent  of  one  mounted  darky  who 
is  a  sort  of  squire  for  all  hands." 

Sam  Thomas,  who  had  now  returned  to  Barce 
lona,  passed  near  them  in  going  to  his  seat  and 
stopped  to  speak  to  them,  addressing  his  remarks 
chiefly  to  Reba;  but  he  fancied  that  all  three 
ladies  treated  him  coolly,  particularly  the  one  he 
desired  most  to  please,  and  he  was  not  slow  to 
take  himself  off.  A  few  minutes  later  Morton 
appeared  and  also  stopped  to  speak  to  them,  his 
dark,  grave  face  relaxing  in  a  tender  smile  and  his 
fine  eyes  kindling.  Mrs.  Brown  literally  beamed 
on  him,  and  Betty  was  as  cordial  as  she  had  been 
cool  to  his  predecessor.  Reba  left  the  talking  to 
the  others,  but  there  was  no  lack  of  friendliness  in 
her  glance. 

"Why  ain't  you  ridin'?"  asked  Mrs.  Brown, 
fondly.  "Oh,  yes,  I  forgot;  I  reckon  you  don't 
feel  able  right  now.  I  'm  powerful  sorry  about 
them  chills-and-fever.  You  must  take  care  of 
yourself." 

They  were  silent  for  a  few  moments  after  he 


36  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

left  them,  each  one  thinking  of  him.  Betty's  re 
flection  was  that  there  was  an  indescribable  ex 
pression  in  his  peculiar,  haunting  eyes,  as  he  looked 
lingeringly  at  Reba.  The  latter's  thoughts  could 
not  easily  be  translated.  Mrs.  Brown,  as  usual, 
expressed  hers  in  words. 

"  If  he  was  to  ride,"  said  she,  enthusiastically, 
"  I  'd  be  willin'  for  him  to  beat  everybody,  even 
Charlie.  A  young  man  that  will  take  up  for  a 
unprotected  woman  like  he  done  deserves  to  beat 
'em  all." 

One  other  person  stopped  and  spoke  to  them 
before  the  contest  began,  a  very  young  man  who 
smiled  rapturously  and  almost  blushed  as  he  looked 
at  Betty.  The  girl  was  a  year  his  senior  and  there 
fore  regarded  him  almost  as  a  "  little  boy,"  although 
he  was  nearing  twenty  and  was  well  grown.  Her 
lofty  attitude,  however,  had  not  prevented  him 
from  falling  desperately  in  love  with  her,  love  at 
that  age  being  always  desperate.  His  name  was 
Jack  Sanford,  and  he  was  a  son  of  Miss  Black's 
friend,  the  colonel.  All  three  ladies  greeted  him 
cordially,  —  Betty  with  some  raillery;  and  Mrs. 
Brown  inquired  why  he,  too,  was  not  to  take  part 
in  the  contest. 

"  I  did  so  badly  the  last  time  we  practised  that 
they  ruled  me  out,"  he  replied,  with  a  blush  and 
an  appealing  look  at  Betty.  "  They  could  n't  afford 
to  have  any  but  the  best  riders;  it  would  have 
made  too  many." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  37 

It  was  now  announced  that  the  contest  was  to 
begin,  and  conversation  ceased,  or  was  resolved 
into  exclamations  of  admiration,  as  the  riders 
galloped  round  the  area  in  single  file,  in  order  to 
accustom  their  horses  to  the  crowd.  The  horse 
men  having  resumed  their  former  positions,  a  man 
with  a  white  flag  took  his  stand  near  the  starting 
point  and  young  Walton's  spirited  mare  edged 
nervously  toward  the  track.  She  had  to  be  coaxed 
into  position  and  seemed  to  tremble  with  excite 
ment,  but  a  few  caressing  pats  on  her  neck  accom 
panied'  by  the  encouraging  voice  of  her  master 
tended  to  calm  her,  and  when  the  signal  was  given 
she  started  away  nobly.  The  young  man  sat  his 
slender,  fleet-footed  mare  with  admirable  ease,  and 
poised  his  wooden  lance  in  a  way  to  convey  the 
impression  that  he  could  do  nothing  awkwardly. 

The  white  flag  drops,  a  shout  goes  up,  away 
they  go  !  The  first  post  is  near ;  the  upheld  lance 
is  heard  to  strike  the  tiny  suspended  iron  ring. 
Hurrah  !  he  has  it  safe  on  his  lance  !  On,  on, —  the 
second  ring  is  taken,  and  the  third,  the  fourth,  the 
fifth.  Bravo!  what  luck!  what  speed!  what  a 
calm,  unerring  eye  !  One  more  — will  he  get  it  ?  — 
the  sixth!  There  is  the  sound  of  contact;  is  it 
safe  upon  his  lance?  Too  bad;  there  it  flies  off 
at  a  tangent.  Nevertheless  a  great  shout  goes  up ; 
he  has  done  well. 

"Oh,  what  a  pity  he  didn't  get  that'n,  too," 
sighed  Mrs.  Brown,  a  mother's  fond  pride  showing 


38  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

on  her  face  as  she  looked  around  on  the  shouting 
people. 

Next  appeared  a  rider  with  the  slightly  ambigu 
ous  title  of  "  Knight  of  the  Fair  "  who  made  a 
disastrous  run,  his  horse  proving  unruly;  and  after 
him  the  Knight  of  Putnam,  who  lost  only  two  rings. 
Then  came  the  turn  of  Mr.  Jones,  the  Knight  of  the 
Plough,  and  the  interest  was  intense  as  he  dashed 
around  the  track  in  awkward  and  apparently  reck 
less  style,  and  came  out  at  the  finish,  amid  enthusi 
astic  shouts,  with  every  ring  on  his  lance. 

"  This  is  terrible,"  said  Betty,  with  a  wry  face. 
"  If  that  man  wins,  he  will  write  me  a  note  as  sure 
as  —  I  feel  it  coming  now !  No  tournament  ball 
for  me,  then.  I  refuse  to  make  myself  conspicu 
ous  along  with  that  big,  lumbering  —  " 

"  You  Betty  !  "  remonstrated  Mrs.  Brown.  "You 
ought  not  to  talk  so ;  he  's  a  good  young  man." 

"He's  good  enough,  but — dear  me,  he  is 
absolutely  hopeless.  I  wish  Jack  had  asked  me  to 
go  with  him.  He  wanted  to,  but  generously  left 
it  open  to  one  of  the  victors  to  invite  me." 

There  was  now  leisure  to  forecast  the  probable 
results  and  make  bets  while  the  remaining 
"  knights,"  no  one  of  which  particularly  distin 
guished  himself,  took  their  several  terms.  Judging 
from  his  first  brilliant  run,  it  was  confidently 
expected  that  the  winner  would  be  none  other  than 
the  awkward  Knight  of  the  Plough ;  but  his  second 
and  third  runs  proved  less  successful,  while  young 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  39 

Walton  took  every  ring  in  both  his  second  and 
third  rounds,  and  when  the  contest  closed  the  four 
leading  names  on  the  score  were :  — 

"Knight  of  the  Horseshoe,  17  ;  Knight  of  the  Plough, 
15;  Knight  of  Putnam,  14;  Knight  of  Red  Bank,  12." 

Much  shouting  had  already  been  indulged  in  by 
the  spectators,  but  nothing  like  what  was  heard 
when  Charlie  Walton,  the  victorious  "  Horseshoe," 
rode  forward  a  little  in  advance  of  his  comrades,  a 
wreath  of  flowers  upon  his  lance,  and  taking  off  his 
plumed  hat,  bowed  in  acknowledgment.  Mrs. 
Brown's  cup  was  full  —  and  her  eyes.  As  they 
descended  from  their  seats,  unnoticed  in  the  crowd 
she  suddenly  embraced  and  kissed  her  niece  with 
a  meaning  look,  which  plainly  said :  "  He  wants 
you,  and  if  you  'd  only  have  him  now,  that  would 
be  all  I'd  ask  for."  And  Reba  thought:  "  My 
first  cousin  ?  —  never !  " 

Before  they  were  quite  clear  of  the  crowd  they 
passed  near  and  bowed  to  Miss  Black  who  was  in 
the  company  of  a  strange  lady  and  gentleman. 
These  had  the  air  of  the  men  and  women  of  the 
world  and  looked  about  them  with  critical  scrutiny, 
but  were  evidently  no  little  entertained.  Both  had 
attractive  faces,  and  Miss  Black  seemed  to  be  on 
good  terms  with  them. 

"  I  like  that  man's  looks,"  announced  Betty, 
promptly. 


40  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

"Who  are  they?" 

"  Those  Northerners  Miss  Black  told  us  she  was 
expecting,  I  suppose." 

Poor  Betty's  fears  of  trouble  to  come  were  not 
groundless.  Early  in  the  afternoon  the  following 
missive  reached  her  at  her  home :  — 

BARCELONA,  Oct.  16,  188-. 

Miss  BETTY,  —  Complements  of  J.  L.  Jones  to  Miss 
Betty  Walton  and  would  be  pleased  to  have  the  plesure 
of  her  comepany  to  the  turnnament  ball  tonight  to  crown 
her  the  first  made  of  Honor  if  agreeable. 

Yours  in  Friendship, 

J.  L.  JONES. 

"  This  is  too  much !  "  cried  Betty,  exasperated. 
"  I  think  he  might  have  got  somebody  to  write  it 
for  him,  or  to  correct  his  mistakes.  Well,  /  stay  at 
home,"  and,  deaf  to  her  mother's  entreaties,  she 
wrote  a  polite  refusal  and  gave  up  the  ball.  "  If 
Jack  had  only  asked  me  this  morning,"  she  sighed. 

It  was  quite  a  great  ball  for  Barcelona,  attracting 
visitors  from  among  the  inhabitants  of  several 
neighboring  towns  as  well  as  being  an  event  of  all- 
absorbing  interest  at  home.  A  temporary  stage 
had  been  erected  at  one  end  of  the  large  hall,  and 
at  the  appointed  hour  the  curtain  went  up,  disclos 
ing  a  pretty  imitation  of  a  woodland  scene, —  the 
"  Queen  of  Beauty"  seated  in  the  centre,  her  victo 
rious  cavalier  standing  at  her  side,  in  the  act  of 
placing  a  crown  upon  her  head.  In  the  back- 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  41 

ground  were  also  seated  the  three  ladies-in-waiting 
or  maids  of  honor,  each  attended  by  her  own 
knight,  who  was  placing  a  coronet  upon  her  head. 
The  tableau  was  an  exceedingly  pretty  one  and 
the  source  of  unbounded  pleasure  to  the  spectators 
who  for  the  most  part  knew  little  of  the  theatre. 

The  curtain  was  not  down  again  five  minutes  be 
fore  the  crowned  young  ladies  appeared  on  the 
arms  of  their  cavaliers,  and  the  ball  was  opened. 
Immediately  the  "  royal  set "  was  danced  under  the 
admiring  eyes  of  the  wall-flowers  and  the  some 
what  envious  side  glances  of  those  participating  in 
the  several  other  cotillons.  The  young  queen, 
who,  after  much  anxious  planning,  had  been  very 
successfully  costumed,  was  now  radiant,  and  every 
eye  was  riveted  upon  her  and  her  handsome  knight. 
Refused  by  Betty,  who  pined  at  home,  young  Jones 
had  solicited  in  another  quarter  with  more  success, 
and  the  first  "  made  "  of  honor  whom  he  now  led 
through  the  cotillon  was  undeniably  pretty  and 
graceful.  So  much  could  not  be  said  for  the  young 
man  himself,  who,  having  received  his  early  terpsi- 
chorean  education  at  backwoods  balls,  failed  to 
exhibit  that  even  balance  of  grace  and  dignity  dis 
tinguishing  the  good  dancer,  his  feet,  as  is  some 
times  said  of  orators,  being  determinedly  boisterous 
and  inclined  to  gesticulate  too  violently  and  too 
much. 

Miss  Black  watched  the  tableau  and  the  dance  in 
company  with  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Sanford  and  hef 


42  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

two  visitors  from  Philadelphia,  whom  she  had 
introduced  as  Mrs.  Blossom  and  Mr.  Shepherd. 

"Very,  very  pretty,"  the  last-named  remarked, 
as  the  curtain  went  down,  "  but  quite  a  surprise.  I 
was  expecting  to  see  the  ladies  crown  the  knights 
with  wreaths  of  laurel,  or  something  of  that  kind." 

"  Oh,  were  you?"  murmured  Mrs.  Sanford. 

"  Is  it  something  in  imitation  of  the  tournaments 
of  the  middle  ages?"  asked  Mrs.  Blossom. 

"  I  think,"  said  Colonel  Sanford,  "  the  idea  is 
taken  from  representations  of  the  mediaeval  tour 
nament  given  in  England  in  the  earlier  part  of  this 
century.  I  remember  hearing  of  one,  when  I  was  a 
young  man,  given  at  Eglinton  castle  about  the  year 
1840.  Lady  Seymour  was  the  Queen  of  Beauty." 

At  the  last  moment  Mrs.  Brown  had  decided  to 
go  to  the  ball  with  her  husband  in  spite  of  the 
reverend  Straitlace,  who,  to  judge  from  her  fre 
quent  reference  to  him,  always  loomed  threaten 
ingly  in  her  background.  She  had  watched  the 
tableau  and  the  dance  with  emotions  which,  but  for 
the  recollection  of  Betty's  obstinacy,  would  have 
approximated  indescribable  bliss ;  and  later,  at  the 
first  opportunity,  she  congratulated  Reba  and  Char 
lie  after  her  own  indiscreet  but  well-meant  fashion. 

"  Oh,  you  two  did  look  so  sweet !  "  she  murmured, 
beaming  on  them.  "  But  go  on  now,  and  pro 
menade,  and  have  a  nice  long  talk." 

Reba  gave  her  aunt  an  affectionate  glance  in 
return,  but  Charlie  frowned,  not  relishing  this 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  43 

friendly  espionage.  His  mother's  crude  compli 
ment  almost  made  him  blush,  and  her  significant 
parting  suggestion  was  worse  still ;  he  was  by  no 
means  averse  to  the  long  chat,  but  preferred  to  do 
his  own  courting.  However,  there  was  scant  op 
portunity,  for  Sam  Thomas  soon  approached  and 
importuned  Reba  for  a  waltz,  and  presently  she 
went  off  on  Morton's  arm. 

By  this  time  Miss  Black  was  dancing  with  Jack 
Sanford,  Mrs.  Sanford  and  Mrs.  Blossom  were  look 
ing  about  them  and  lightly  commenting,  and  the 
colonel  was  engaged  in  a  very  serious  conversation 
with  young  Shepherd. 

"  The  presence  of  the  black  man  as  a  slave,"  he 
was  saying,  "  was  the  curse  of  the  old  South ;  his 
presence  as  a  freeman  is  equally  the  curse  of  the 
new.  As  regards  material  prosperity,  he  was  and 
is  a  curse,  because  on  his  account  the  thrifty  for 
eign  immigrants  pouring  into  this  country  during 
the  past  fifty  years  have  steadily  avoided  the  fair 
lands  of  the  South,  and  settled  always  in  the  North 
and  West,  helping  largely  to  make  those  sections 
populous,  rich,  and  great.  This  is  the  true  expla 
nation  of  the  slow  development  of  our  resources. 
The  material  side  of  the  question,  however,  is  not 
the  most  important.  The  main  point  is  that  the 
negro  is  a  foreign  body  and  we  cannot  assimilate 
him ;  we  can  only  look  forward  to  an  indefinite 
extension  of  the  inevitable  struggle  between  two 
opposing  factors,  two  hostile  races,  in  one  country." 


44  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  It  might  be  urged,  and  perhaps  without  injus 
tice,"  said  Mr.  Shepherd,  "  that  the  Southern  people 
brought  all  this  on  themselves." 

"  We  are  much  to  blame,"  said  the  colonel,  read 
ily,  "  but  by  no  means  wholly  so.  The  entire  union 
of  States  was  responsible.  We  fought  to  per 
petuate  slavery  after  it  involved  the  preservation  of 
an  enormous  property,  and  after  we  had  come  to 
regard  it  as  a  necessity,  but  in  the  first  instance 
you  or  your  ancestors  were  equally  guilty.  You 
must  be  aware  that  slavery,  which  existed  in  all  the 
original  thirteen  States,  was  gradually  abandoned 
in  the  North  from  reasons  of  interest  rather  than 
of  sentiment,  although  it  is  unquestionable  that  a 
revolt  against  it  began  among  your  thinkers  at  an 
early  day,  as  was  also  the  case  among  us  and 
among  the  English.  The  '  change  of  heart '  with 
the  latter  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  transi 
tions  of  public  sentiment  on  record,  considering 
that  they  exported  more  than  600,000  slaves  from 
Africa  to  Jamaica  alone  ;  and  as  late  as  1770  their 
king  refused  to  take  notice  of  the  petition  of  the 
Virginia  Assembly,  which  declared  the  importation 
of  slaves  '  a  trade  of  great  inhumanity,  and  danger 
ous  to  the  very  existence  of  his  Majesty's  American 
dominions.* 

"  But  it  is  idle  to  talk  of  blame  or  responsibility 
now,"  the  colonel  added.  "  What  we  need  to  con 
sider,  to  reflect  seriously  upon,  is  the  situation 
before  us.  Surely  it  is  one  which  no  thoughtful 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  45 

person  can  fail  to  view  with  alarm,  considering  the 
intense  race  antipathy  which  exists  and  steadily 
increases." 

"  I  was  under  the  impression  that  it  was  ameli 
orating,"  said  Mr.  Shepherd,  evidently  much  inter 
ested. 

"  It  appears  so  because  the  negro  has  practically 
given  up  the  struggle  for  political  advantage.  But 
wait  until  he  is  stronger." 

"  When  you  have  forgotten  that  he  was  a  slave 
the  situation  will  perhaps  soon  adjust  itself." 

"  It  is  not  that,  my  friend,  although  that  is  un 
doubtedly  one  of  the  complications.  If  our  slaves 
had  been  white  serfs  little  prejudice  could  survive 
a  generation.  The  freed  white  serf  would  need 
only  to  become  prosperous  and  educate  his  chil 
dren,  and  the  fusion  would  begin.  But  the  negro 
is  black,  a  race  totally  distinct  and  hopelessly  in 
ferior,  a  race  set  apart  in  his  own  land  and  never 
intended  to  inhabit  a  common  country  with  the 
whites.  You  know  as  well  as  I  that  he  never  would 
have  been  allowed  to  put  foot  in  this  country  in  the 
first  place  except  as  a  slave.  You  who  gradually 
drove  the  red  man  across  this  wide  continent,  stain 
ing  every  mile  with  his  blood  and  your  own,  you 
who  are  determined  to  shut  the  Golden  Gate  against 
the  yellow  man,  —  how  can  you  expect  us  to  live 
in  peace  with,  to  assimilate,  the  black  man,  a  third 
equally  distinct  and  opposite  race?" 

"  I  must  say  I  never  thought  of  it  in  that  light 
before,"  said  Mr.  Shepherd,  thoughtfully. 


46  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  I  have  often  wondered  why  Northern  men 
show  so  little  sympathy  for  us  in  our  struggle  with 
the  negro.  The  bitterness  following  a  bloody  war 
was  sufficient  to  explain  your  desire  to  humiliate 
us  in  making  our  slaves  in  many  instances  our 
governors,  but  —  " 

"  Many  people  in  the  North,"  interrupted  Shep 
herd,  "  doubted  the  wisdom  of  conferring  the  suf 
frage  immediately  upon  the  freed  slave.  In  my 
opinion  it  was  a  mistake.  It  should  have  been 
done  gradually." 

"  But,"  continued  the  colonel,  "  even  that  is  in 
sufficient  to  explain  your  attitude  of  criticism  at  this 
late  date  whenever  there  is  an  outbreak  between 
the  races.  In  the  very  nature  of  the  situation  these 
outbreaks  are  inevitable,  and  yet,  whatever  the  cir 
cumstances  may  be,  your  sympathy  is  always  with 
the  black  man  as  you  look  coldly  on  the  struggle 
from  a  distance.  One  would  think  you  would 
sometimes  recollect  that  the  whites  of  the  North 
and  South  are  men  of  one  race,  one  instinct,  one 
inheritance ;  while  the  blacks  are  totally  of  another, 
equally  with  the  Chinee  and  the  Indian.  Deploring 
as  you  do  the  influence  of  the  low  white  foreigner 
in  the  North,  one  would  think  you  would  be  ready 
to  extend  your  sympathy  to  us  in  our  struggle 
with  an  ignorant,  slavish,  alien  race." 

"  It  does  seem  so,"  the  younger  man  admitted, 
"  and  doubtless  it  would  be  so  but  for  the  question 
of  partisan  politics  involved." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  47 

"That's  the  point.  The  North  seems  to  believe 
that  the  whole  struggle  is  one  of  political  parties. 
My  dear  sir,  it  is  a  struggle  of  race.  In  reality  the 
'  solid  South '  is  literally  torn  with  all  sorts  of  polit 
ical  isms,  and  if  the  negro  were  out  of  the  way,  it 
would  fall  apart  to-morrow.  We  should  have  a 
free-trade  party,  a  protectionist  party,  and  every 
thing  else  under  the  sun ;  as  it  is,  we  have,  and 
will  continue  to  have  a  '  solid  South,'  every  other 
interest  fading  into  insignificance  in  comparison 
with  the  one  all-absorbing  necessity  of  maintaining 
white  supremacy." 

The  colonel  went  on  to  ask  a  question  which  his 
companion  readily  admitted  as  one  not  easily  an 
swered.  It  was  this :  Suppose  the  Chinese  were 
voters  and  had  a  narrow  plurality,  would  the  white 
people  of  California  allow  them  to  capture  the 
State  and  municipal  governments?  "If  this  is  not 
a  parallel  case,"  declared  Colonel  Sanford,  "  it  is  be 
cause  our  situation  has  been  and  threatens  again  to 
be  worse  than  the  Californians'  would  be  under 
those  circumstances.  Our  white  laboring  men 
make  the  same  complaints  of  unequal  competition 
with  the  negro  that  are  made  by  the  same  class  in 
California  in  respect  to  the  rice-subsisting  Chinee. 
Both  these  alien  races  are  able  to  support  life  on 
much  less  than  the  more  highly  organized  white 
man,  and  therefore  can  work  for  less  pay  and  thus 
drive  the  competing  white  man  to  the  wall.  Your 
working  classes  North  who  are  so  restive  under  the 


48  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

system  of  importing  white  foreign  laborers,  know 
little  or  nothing  of  what  is  involved  in  competition 
with  the  negro,  and  I  venture  to  say  that  if  the 
situation  North  and  South  could  be  reversed,  if 
well  nigh  one  half  of  your  population  could  sud 
denly  be  converted  into  blacks  with  the  same  char 
acteristics  of  those  among  us  here,  there  would 
grow  up  among  your  wage  earners  within  five 
years  an  overwhelming  sentiment  favoring  their 
forcible  expulsion  from  the  country." 

"  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  such  a  situation, 
but  there  would  be  trouble  no  doubt." 

"  This  brings  me  to  my  point,  my  hobby,  as  some 
of  my  friends  call  it,  —  namely,  not  the  forcible 
expulsion  of  the  negro,  but  his  gradual  removal  by 
means  of  colonization.  He  was  brought  here  for 
cibly  and  should  not  be  forced  to  leave ;  but  it  be 
hooves  the  whites,  primarily  for  their  own  sakes, 
and  secondarily  for  his,  to  do  everything  in  their 
power  to  encourage  him  to  emigrate  to  Liberia, 
the  Congo  Free  State  or  elsewhere.  That  is  the 
only  salvation  for  this  Southern  country,  as  I  see  it. 
My  friends  who  fear  agriculture  would  be  disor 
ganized —  and  it  might  be  temporarily —  may  call 
it  my  hobby  if  they  please,  but  I  could  know  no 
greater  happiness  than  to  see  such  a  scheme 
accomplished." 

"  Your  '  hobby'  is  surely  not  one  to  be  ashamed 
of,"  rejoined  the  younger  man,  admiringly. 

The  colonel  launched  forth  again,  but  his  wife 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  43 

interrupted  him.  "  You  must  not  keep  Mr.  Shep 
herd  talking  there  all  the  evening,"  she  said. 
"  This  is  a  ball,  you  know.  Take  Mrs.  Blossom 
around  the  room ;  she 's  tired  of  sitting,  I  know." 

Colonel  Sanford  rose  promptly  and  offered  his 
arm. 

"  And,"  his  wife  continued,  "  if  you  will  take  me 
across  the  room,  Mr.  Shepherd,  I  '11  introduce  you 
to  some  young  people.  That  is,  if  you  like." 

"  I  should  like  very  much  to  be  presented  to  the 
'  queen.' " 

4 


IV. 


IT  was  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  the 
knight  of  the  horseshoe  left  his  queen  at  her 
own  door.  The  sound  of  drizzling  rain  in  the 
China-trees  of  the  yard  first  arrested  her  attention 
upon  awakening,  and  then,  her  mother's  voice 
faintly  calling.  It  must,  then,  be  very  late.  The 
empty  ball  dress  and  sham  crown  now  presented 
the  aspect  of  reproachful  phantoms,  and  Reba  was 
conscious  of  something  like  remorse  for  having 
enjoyed  herself  so  thoroughly.  Hurrying  into 
the  adjoining  room,  she  found  that  it  was  past  ten 
o'clock,  and  that  her  mother  was  suffering  from 
the  effect  of  a  sleepless  night,  besides  being  weak 
for  want  of  nourishment. 

"  How  careless  of  me  to  sleep  so  late,"  she 
said  regretfully,  kissing  the  invalid's  pale  face. 

"  You  could  n't  help  it,  dearie.  You  needed  the 
rest.  And  what  did  you  think  of  the  ball,  eh?" 

The  girl  began  an  enthusiastic  description,  but 
soon  cut  her  words  short  and  hurried  to  the  kit 
chen.  Her  mind  was  so  full  of  the  lights  and 
triumphs  of  the  ball  that  she  found  it  difficult  to 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  51 

concentrate  her  attention  on  the  preparation  of  a 
tiny  omelet  and  a  cup  of  coffee,  and  realized  pre 
sently  that  she  had  neglected  the  first  and  most 
necessary  step  involved,  —  the  building  of  a  fire. 
And  now  a  look  of  dismay  overspread  her  face  as 
she  recalled  that  the  supply  of  wood  was  exhausted 
and  the  wherewithal  of  a  fire  was  not  at  hand.  A 
temporary  blaze  from  the  chips  usually  scattered 
about  the  wood-pile  was  not  impossible,  but  a  load 
of  wood  had  been  needed  for  several  days  and  the 
gleanings  from  this  source  had  already  been  con 
sumed.  Reba  thought  of  the  fable  of  the  cricket 
that  danced  and  chirruped  all  summer,  laying 
nothing  by,  and  when  the  winds  of  winter  came 
crept  about  hungry  and  shivering. 

"  If  I  can't  find  a  board  somewhere  about,  I  '11 
have  to  go  down  to  the  woods  and  get  a  lightwood 
knot  and  chop  it  up,"  was  her  troubled  reflection, 
as  she  took  down  her  work-day  bonnet  from  a  peg 
on  the  piazza. 

But  for  a  fine  mist,  the  rain  had  now  ceased,  and 
Reba  started  across  the  little  field  a  few  minutes 
later,  with  no  worse  prospect  threatening  than  a 
pair  of  wet  feet.  She  hoped  that  no  one  passing 
on  the  neighboring  road  would  see  her  or  suspect 
the  object  of  her  errand,  and  pulled  the  old  cloth 
sun-bonnet  far  down  over  her  face,  trusting  that  in 
any  event  she  would  not  be  recognized.  The 
secret  of  this  desperate  poverty  must  be  kept. 

Once  beyond  the  open  field  and  among  the  trees 


52  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

of  the  pine  woods,  she  felt  less  concerned  and 
centred  her  whole  attention  upon  the  search  for  a 
suitable  piece  of  wood.  But,  as  was  soon  evident, 
small  lightwood  knots  were  rare,  and  large  ones, 
too,  the  ground  having  been  foraged  full  often 
already.  Her  glance  being  confined  to  the  immedi 
ately  surrounding  area  of  wire-grass  as  she  moved 
forward  in  her  anxious  search,  the  girl  strayed 
further  than  she  intended  and  unknowingly  stood 
within  a  few  feet  of  the  road  before  discovering  a 
piece  of  wood  which  she  thought  she  would  be 
able  to  carry.  While  struggling  with  it  and  feeling 
very  forlorn  and  wretched,  poor  Reba's  attention  was 
suddenly  arrested  by  the  sound  of  approaching 
wheels.  Dropping  her  find  and  casting  a  frightened 
glance  over  her  shoulder,  she  saw  that  the  occu 
pant  of  the  vehicle  was  young  Morton,  that  he  had 
drawn  rein,  had  almost  stopped,  and  was  looking 
at  her  with  wonder-struck  eyes. 

The  girl  knew  that  her  limp  bonnet  very  success 
fully  concealed  her  face;  she  thought  it  possible 
and  earnestly  hoped  that,  although  the  distance  was 
so  short,  he  had  not  recognized  her.  In  any  event 
she  was  determined  not  to  allow  him  to  carry  her 
burden,  an  intention  which  seemed  to  be  indicated 
in  his  manner,  or  the  fact  that  he  had  drawn  rein ; 
and  a  moment  later  she  was  stooping  and  plucking 
a  wild  flower  within  a  foot  of  the  lightwood  knot, 
just  as  if  this  has  been  the  object  of  her  struggles 
in  the  first  place.  Then,  apparently  unconscious 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  53 

of  his  presence,  she  walked  away,  stooping  pres 
ently  to  gather  another  flower,  and  farther  on  still 
another.  The  observer,  who  had  not  quite  stopped, 
now  drove  on,  wondering  at  what  he  had  seen. 
He  was  not  quite  sure,  but  strongly  suspected  that 
it  was  Reba,  and  was  at  a  loss  to  explain  the  situa 
tion.  He  had  distinctly  seen  her  struggling  with 
a  piece  of  wood,  as  if  she  intended  to  lift  and  carry 
it,  and  it  certainly  seemed  improbable  that  she 
would  go  into  the  wet  woods  at  that  hour  of  a 
rainy  morning  in  order  to  gather  wild  flowers. 

Five  minutes  later  Reba  was  crossing  the  little 
rice  field,  dragging  her  prize  after  her  and  con 
gratulating  herself  upon  having  escaped  detection. 
She  did  not  know  that  even  at  that  moment  two 
negro  men  who  had  halted  on  the  road  were  ob 
serving  her  and  commenting.  It  was  an  hour 
when  other  men  were  at  work,  but  these  two  had 
been  strolling  aimlessly  along,  with  the  air  of  per 
sons  with  nothing  in  the  world  to  do. 

"  Jes'  look  at  dat  young  white  'oman,"  said  one. 
"  She  must  be  mighty  po'  if  she  have  to  go  out 
and  git  her  own  wood  dat-a  way."  The  speaker 
was  celebrated  for  his  name,  which  was  no  less  an 
absurdity  than  Mamie-Lou  John,  his  mother  having 
felt  moved  to  adopt  and  bestow  upon  him  in  in 
fancy  the  compound  Christian  name  of  a  pretty 
little  white  girl.  John  was  his  father's  surname. 

"  Dat 's  Reba  Law'nce,"  said  the  other,  who  was 
known  as  Cicero  Witherspoon  and  was  the  husband 


54  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

of  Josephine.  "  You  mighty  right,  she  po' ;  she 
have  to  make  clothes  for  Rosetta  and  dem  other 
gals  and  Josephine  she  cleck  de  money  for  her. 
(I  made  Josephine  gim  me  some  of  it  one  time.) 
She  wut  you  call  po'  buckra  sho-nuf." 

When  Reba  finally  carried  in  her  mother's  break 
fast  she  was  met  by  the  first  real  complaint  she 
could  remember  to  have  heard  from  her.  Mrs. 
Lawrence  was  a  patient  woman ;  she  had  suffered 
much  and  had  schooled  herself  to  endure  in  silence  ; 
but  she  was  not  wholly  free  from  the  notorious 
selfishness  of  the  average  invalid.  And  this  morn 
ing  she  had  been  sorely  tried ;  she  had  waited 
until  she  was  faint  and  her  patience  was  gone. 

"  What  made  you  so  long?  "  she  asked,  irritably. 
"  I  am  astonished." 

"  I  could  n't  help  it,"  Reba  answered,  her  eyes 
filling.  She  sat  down  in  a  corner,  feeling  hurt,  and 
waited  until  her  mother  had  eaten.  At  last  she 
said :  "  There  was  no  wood,  and  I  had  to  go  down 
into  the  woods  and  get  a  piece  before  I  could  build 
a  fire." 

"  What !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Lawrence,  deeply 
shocked.  "Why,  what  does  this  mean?  Why 
is  there  no  wood?  Did  you  forget  to  order  it?  " 

"  A  load  passed  here  yesterday,  but  I  could  n't 
stop  it  because  I  did  n't  have  the  money,"  answered 
Reba,  absently. 

<(  You  did  n't  have  the  money  to  pay  for  a  load 
of  wood  !  "  said  Mrs.  Lawrence,  her  eyes  expand- 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  55 

i 

ing.     "  What  has  gone  with  it  all,  then?  '  We  can 

at  least  buy  wood,  I  hope." 

The  implied  reproach  was  too  much  for  Reba  to 
endure  in  her  present  mood;  she  felt  that  she 
could  bear  the  burden  of  responsibility  no  longer. 
Bursting  into  tears,  she  told  the  whole  pitiable 
story,  —  the  loss  of  their  income  nine  months 
before,  the  melting  away  of  their  little  hoarded 
sum,  the  sewing  for  the  negroes,  and  all  her  pain 
fully  careful  little  economies.  After  a  few  excla 
mations  'of  amazement,  Mrs.  Lawrence  listened  in 
silence  to  the  end.  Then  she  rose  in  her  bed  to  a 
sitting  posture,  clasped  her  daughter  in  her  arms, 
and  wept  as  Reba  had  never  seen  her  weep. 

"  Don 't  cry  so,  mamma,"  begged  the  girl  at  last. 
"  We  have  been  able  to  manage  for  nine  months 
and  we  can  still  go  on." 

"  To  think  that  I  could  have  been  so  thoughtless 
and  selfish  when  my  poor,  brave  child  was  going 
through  such  a  struggle,"  sobbed  the  unnerved 
invalid.  "  I  can  never  forgive  myself,  Reba.  I 
thought  you  were  mismanaging  and  wasting  our 
little  income  foolishly.  Why  —  why  didn't  you 
tell  me  everything?  " 

"  If  you  had  been  strong  I  should  have,  but  I 
wanted  to  spare  you ;  and  now  —  now  that  you 
know  all  about  it,  something  must  be  done.  You 
are  not  getting  proper  food.  I  '11  speak  to  Aunt 
Matilda,  and  it  may  be  Mr.  Brown  will  advance  us 
some  money  until  —  " 


56  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"No!" 

Mrs.  Lawrence's  tears  ceased  to  flow  at  this 
suggestion,  and  leaning  back  among  her  pillows, 
she  calmly  discussed  the  situation,  although  weak 
from  unwonted  excitement.  No,  they  would  do 
no  such  thing.  For  the  present  they  would  go  on 
as  Reba  had  begun.  They  would  continue  to  soli 
cit  sewing  and  would  do  the  work  together ;  here 
after  Reba  should  not  work  so  hard,  —  the  mother 
would  do  the  larger  part  of  the  sewing,  propped 
up  in  bed  when  she  could  not  sit  up.  She  believed 
it  would  be  better  for  her  anyhow  than  so  much 
reading.  She  was  handy  with  the  needle,  fortu 
nately;  she  had  taken  to  fine  needlework  when 
quite  a  child,  —  had  once,  she  recollected,  pleased 
her  father  very  much  by  embroidering  the  family 
arms  in  colors.  There  were  many  things  about 
the  house  of  no  real  use  to  them  which  Josephine 
would  be  glad  to  own ;  they  would  encourage  her 
by  more  frequent  gifts  to  procure  more  work  than 
heretofore,  and  perhaps  she  could  be  induced  to  try 
harder  to  collect  the  money.  How  strange  it 
seemed  to  be  reduced  to  such  depth  of  poverty,  — 
to  a  pittance  gained  by  sewing  for  one's  former 
slaves,  —  after  what  the  family  had  once  been  ! 

"  My  father  took  me  all  over  Europe  before  I 
was  married,"  said  Mrs.  Lawrence,  sadly,  "  and  a 
few  years  afterwards  my  husband  took  me  again. 
The  money  spent  during  those  two  years  abroad 
would  make. us  rich  now.  I  never  dreamed  what 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  57 

real  want  was  before.  Even  after  the  war  your 
father  managed  to  keep  us  comfortable." 

But  she  soon  shut  her  mind  to  this  painful  con 
trast  and  again  bravely  faced  the  present,  going 
over  the  particulars  of  the  proposed  plan.  Reba 
listened  doubtfully  yet  hopefully,  relieved  to  have 
another  share  with  her  the  burden  of  responsibility. 
When  at  last  she  lifted  the  tray  and  left  the  room, 
however,  the  enthusiasm  in  her  mother's  face 
slowly  died  out. 

"  I  understand  now  why  Reba  looks  so  thin," 
she  told  herself,  in  great  pain.  "  I  suspect  that  for 
a  long  while  she  has  been  cooking  only  for  me  and 
eating  scarcely  anything  herself.  I  will  see  to 
that  in  future." 

And  she  saw  to  it.  From  that  day  on  Reba 
observed  with  grave  solicitude,  but  without  suspi 
cion,  that  her  mother's  appetite  steadily  failed. 
She  complained  that  she  could  not  eat,  and  left 
untouched  full  two-thirds  of  the  scant  meal  that 
was  set  before  her  three  times  a  day.  This  slow 
starvation  was,  however,  not  allowed  to  interfere 
with  the  labor  which  she  had  engaged  to  do. 
Whenever  the  work  was  in  the  house  she  could 
not  be  persuaded  to  let  it  alone,  and  sewed  regu 
larly  and  hard. 

"We  shall  be  able  to  manage,"  she  would  say, 
"  until  the  railroad  begins  to  pay  again ;  or,"  she 
once  added,  "  until  you  marry.  You  have  had  no 
offers  as  yet,  Reba?  " 


58  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  I  could  have  had  from  Charlie  and  from  Sam 
Thomas,  but  I  always  discourage  them  when  — 
when  — "  The  girl  halted,  as  if  disliking  to  con 
tinue.  "  Charlie  is  like  a  brother,"  she  added, 
"  and  nothing  on  earth  could  induce  me  even  to 
think  of  Sam  Thomas." 

"  /  like  Robert  Morton,"  said  Mrs.  Lawrence; 
and  observing  that  her  daughter  adroitly  avoided 
discussing  this  young  man,  she  drew  an  inference 
which  was  far  from  displeasing  to  her.  "  I  would 
rather  see  you  in  your  grave,"  she  added,  "  than 
to  see  you  marry  for  anything  but  love." 

It  was  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  troublous 
day  that  Reba  received  a  visit  from  an  old  negress 
who  had  been  for  many  years  a  slave  in  the  Morton 
family,  and  who  was  in  most  respects  a  slave  still. 
That  is  to  say,  she  was  in  no  sense  a  part  of  the 
present  with  which  her  children  and  grandchildren 
were  identified,  but  was  one  of  the  few  fossil-like 
relics  of  the  past.  These  antique  survivals  are 
now-a-days  so  rare  that  they  stand  out  in  bold 
relief,  so  to  speak.  "  Maum  Katie  "  —  so  she  was 
called  in  the  Morton  family  and  by  most  people  of 
her  own  race  also  —  could  not  read  and  write,  and 
was  otherwise  unlike  the  younger  generation,  tak 
ing  little  interest  in  its  ambitions  and  struggles, 
and  being  little  influenced  by  its  suppressed  hatred 
of  the  whites.  She  had  lived  fifty  years  as  a  slave 
in  one  family,  in  the  household  as  maid  and  seam 
stress,  and,  being  kindly  dealt  with,  a  genuine 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  59 

affection  for  those  with  whom  she  was  in  constant 
association  did  not  fail  to  awaken  in  her  and  live. 
Those  fifty  years,  in  fact,  had  been  more  satisfactory 
as  regards  bodily  comfort  than  the  succeeding 
twenty-five  during  which  she  had  shifted  for  her 
self;  and  she  remembered  this  slightly  to  the  detri- 
•  ment  of  the  present.  Maum  Katie  knew  that  there 
was  a  present  and  was  vaguely  conscious  that 
there  would  be  a  future,  but  was  herself  essentially 
of  the  past. 

The  family  in  which  she  would  proudly  say  that 
that  she  had  been  "  raised  "  was  now  broken  up 
and  scattered ;  some  had  fallen  in  the  war,  others 
had  died  at  home,  others  still  had  married  and 
moved  to  a  distance.  The  only  representative  of 
this  family  in  Barcelona  now  was  her  young  "  Mas' 
Robert "  whose  linen  she  washed.  Maum  Katie 
also  served  the  Lawrence  household  in  the  same 
capacity ;  for  washing  was  her  trade,  and  she  was 
still  an  active  woman,  in  spite  of  her  white  woolly 
hair  and  her  seventy-five  years. 

"  I  come  to  git  de  wash,  Miss  Reba,  honey,"  she 
said,  cheerily.  Reba  had  heard  her  step  and  gone 
out  on  the  back  piazza  to  meet  her. 

"  I  can't  give  it  to  you  any  longer,"  said  the  girl, 
sadly. 

"Ain't  I  doin'  it  right?  Don't  it  suit  you?" 
Maum  Katie  had  a  good  face,  and  the  anxiety  now 
written  upon  it  clearly  indicated  a  fear  that  she 


60  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

had  failed  in  her  duty  rather  than  concern  for  the 
loss  of  custom. 

"  It  is  n't  that.  You  do  it  beautifully.  I  meant 
that  I  would  have  to  do  it  myself  hereafter." 

Maum  Katie  looked  inexpressibly  shocked. 
"Wid  all  you  got  to  do?"  she  ejaculated,  after  a 
moment.  "  You  got  to  cook,  and  you  got  to  sew, , 
and  you  got  to  wait  on  yo'  ma ;  you  can't  do  it. 
You  ain't  strong  enough,  nohow." 

"We  can't  afford  to  pay  for  it  any  longer.  I 
don't  mind  telling  ywt,  Maum  Katie." 

"  Nem  mind  'bout  payin',  Miss  Reba,  honey.  You 
lem  me  do  de  washin',  an'  you  kin  des  pay  me 
when  you  git  de  money.  Nem  mind  'bout  payin'." 

Reba's  eyes  filled  with  tears  as  she  listened  to 
this  speech,  which  was  uttered  with  the  sweetness 
and  gentleness  of  an  angel  of  mercy. 

"  Oh,  Maum  Katie,  I  could  n't  think  of  doing 
that.  How  could  you  afford  it?  You  are  very 
good." 

Maum  Katie  protested  that  she  could  afford  it ; 
she  was  able  to  lay  by  a  little  money  every  month. 
Anyhow,  she  was  going  to  do  it;  they  couldn't 
turn  her  off  without  warning  in  that  way ! 

If  she  really  thought  she  could,  then,  Reba  con 
fessed  that  it  would  really  be  a  great  relief  to  them  ; 
and  they  would  pay  her  as  soon  as  they  could.  In 
the  mean  time,  they  had  "  clothes  and  things  "  which 
she  could  make  use  of  perhaps.  "And  Maum 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  61 

Katie,"  the  girl  added,  as  the  old  woman,  having 
determinedly  possessed  herself  of  the  wash,  was 
ready  to  start,  "Josephine  said  you  had  a  grandson 
who  was  a  school-teacher ;  we  could  give  him  some 
books  which  he  could  make  good  use  of,  if  you 
will  tell  him  to  stop  here  some  day." 

"  I'll  tell  him  and  he'll  sho'  come,"  said  Maum 
Katie,  much  pleased.  "  He  love  to  git  all  de  books 
he  kin,  Neil  do." 

She  went  down  the  steps  laughing  and  saying 
good-by,  but  as  soon  as  Reba  re-entered  the 
house,  she  put  down  her  bundle  and  retraced  her 
steps.  Maum  Katie  knew  that  when  a  white 
woman  of  the  higher  class  in  Barcelona  attempted 
to  do  her  own  washing  it  meant  extreme  poverty, 
and  she  determined  on  an  investigation  of  the 
present  case.  Stealing  across  the  latticed  piazza, 
which  separated  the  main  body  of  the  house  from 
the  dining-room,  she  cautiously  opened  the  door  of 
the  latter  and  entered.  After  a  hasty  survey  of 
kitchen  and  dining-room,  and  a  minute  examination 
of  the  contents  of  the  pantry,  which  was  not  locked, 
she  reappeared  on  the  piazza.,  went  softly  down  the 
steps,  took  up  her  bundle,  and  walked  away  shak 
ing  her  head  and  muttering. 

"  Oh,  people !  "  she  ejaculated,  "  dem  two  po' 
women  gwine  to  starve,  you  see  'em  so.  Dat  won't 
do,  dat  won't  do.  Can't  last  long  dat-a  way.  I 
aim  to  tell  Mas'  Robert  de  fust  chance  I  git.  I 
know  Miss  Reba  de  lady  he  want ;  I  know  it  mighty 


62  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

well  from  de  way  he  ax  me  'bout  her  dat  day,  an'  if  I 
tell  him  dis  he  '11  hurry  up  an'  ax  her  to  have  him. 
Look  yuh,  Katie,"  she  checked  herself  suddenly, 
standing  still  in  the  street,  "  may  be  you  better  not 
now ;  '  t  ain't  none  o'  yo'  business  nohow.  Yes  I  will, 
too,  bein'  it 's  Mas'  Robert,"  she  continued,  walking 
forward.  "  I  know  mighty  well  he  ain't  de  kind  o' 
man  to  back  out  jes'  'cause  she  so  po'." 

Her  grandson,  whom  she  called  Neil,  but  who 
was  known  among  his  friends  as  Professor  Brice, 
appeared  promptly  on  the  following  afternoon.  He 
came  up  the  back  steps,  as  she  was  wont  to  do,  and 
rapped  on  the  hall  door,  taking  off  his  hat  when 
Reba  appeared.  He  was  well  dressed  and  distin 
guished  by  quite  an  intelligent  expression  of 
countenance. 

"  I  suppose  you  are  the  school-teacher,"  said 
Reba,  knowing  he  could  be  no  other. 

"  Yes,  ma'am." 

The  girl  left  him  standing  where  he  was  and 
returned  presently  with  an  armful  of  books. 
"  Maum  Katie  is  so  kind,"  she  said,  "  I  want  to  do 
something  to  please  her.  I  think  you  can  make 
use  of  all  these." 

"Thank  you,  ma'am,"  said  the  'Professor-'  with 
gratitude,  looking  eagerly  at  the  titles  as  he  took 
the  books.  "  I  'm  mighty  glad  to  get  'em.  I  love 
to  read.  I 's  read  a  heap  o'  books  in  my  time,"  he 
added,  with  a  species  of  childish  vanity  which 
amused  Reba.  "  If  I  can  do  anything  for  you  any 


THE    SONS  OF  HAM.  63 

time,  ma'am,  please  call  on  me,"  he   said  finally, 
and  departed. 

"  He  might  have  cut  me  a  little  wood  now" 
thought  Reba,  with  a  smile,  as  she  saw  him  go  ; 
"  but  I  hardly  liked  to  suggest  his  doing  what  he 
would  doubtless  consider  beneath  his  dignity." 


V. 


ABOUT  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  day 
after  the  ball,  the  visiting  Philadelphians  parted 
with  Miss  Black  at  the  photographer's  door,  and 
went  for  a  walk.  They  expected  to  take  the  south 
ward  train  early  in  the  evening,  and  desired  to  em 
ploy  the  intervening  time  in  seeing  the  town,  or 
such  of  its  external  features  as  might  interest  them. 
Greatly  to  the  satisfaction  of  Miss  Black,  whose 
unconscious  attitude  was  one  of  responsibility  for 
everything  connected  with  Barcelona,  they  avowed 
having  been  highly  entertained  at  the  ball,  and  re 
gretted  that  they  could  not  see  more  of  some  of 
the  people  whose  acquaintance  they  had  made  on 
that  occasion. 

"  Paul  fell  in  love  with  Miss  Lawrence,"  laughed 
Mrs.  Blossom,  "  and  wants  me  to  invite  her  to 
Philadelphia." 

"  Don't  you  agree  with  me,  Miss  Black,"  the 
young  man  had  rejoined,  "  that  a  '  Queen  of 
Beauty'  fresh  from  a  semi-mediaeval  tournament 
would  be  a  pleasing  novelty  in  the  Quaker  City?" 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  65 

They  first  walked  straight  out  a  prominent  street 
into  the  suburbs,  admiring  a  house  here  and  there 
built  after  an  unusual  pattern  and  with  perhaps  yel 
low  jessamines  or  Madeira-vines  clambering  over  the 
trellised  piazzas.  A  mocking-bird  in  the  top  of  a 
China-tree  arrested  their  attention  now  and  then, 
and  once  they  glimpsed  the  rare  cardinal-bird  as  it 
flamed  through  the  dark  green  of  the  pecans. 
Farther  out  they  stopped  to  look  at  sugar-cane 
growing,  and  recognized  a  few  orange  and  banana 
trees.  But  it  was  the. people  who  most  interested 
them,  particularly  the  blacks ;  and  they  soon  re 
turned  to  the  business  quarter,  boldly  invading  the 
contiguous  haunts  of  busy  and  idle  negroes,  where 
no  native  white  woman  was  ever  seen,  stopping  to 
look  and  comment  with  the  freedom  of  travellers 
who  had  no  reputation  at  stake. 

The  narrow,  dirty  back  street  which  they  had 
entered  was  occupied  chiefly  by  negro  restaurants, 
but  there  was  here  and  there  a  cobbler's  shop,  a 
fish  market,  or  a  drinking  saloon.  Near  one  of  the 
last-named  they  stopped  to  look  at  a  large  wire 
cage  containing  four  dogs,  two  raccoons,  a  goat,  a 
monkey,  and  a  grinning,  full-grown  young  negro. 

"  Darwin  would  have  gone  half-way  round  the 
world  to  see  this,"  laughed  Shepherd,  —  "  a  case  of 
natural  selection  ready  to  his  hand." 

The  monkey  was  unquestionably  the  handsomest 
animal  of  the  lot,  and  the  most  agile;  when  the 
dogs  barked  and  the  goat  jumped,  this  favored 

5 


66  THE  SONS   OF  PI  AM, 

beast  would  mount  the  side  of  the  cage  in  a 
twinkling  and  save  his  fur,  —  a  resource  not  open  to 
the  brother  last  named  in  the  catalogue.  The  aim 
of  this  curious  collection  was  to  hold  the  interest  of 
the  passer-by  till  thirst  reminded  him  that  he  stood 
at  the  door  of  a  saloon.  The  two  Northerners 
agreed  that  the  caricatures  of  men  who  sell  their 
backs  to  advertisers  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
are  relatively  dignified  characters,  and  must  yield 
the  palm  to  the  last-named  member  of  the  Barce 
lona  menagerie. 

It  was  while  halting  here  that  they  observed  a 
young  negro  stop  a  passing  reverend  of  the  fair 
race,  and  ask  what  would  be  his  charge  for  joining 
two  dusky  lovers  in  wedlock.  On  being  informed 
that  the  price  of  such  service  would  be  one  dollar, 
he  promptly  rejoined  :  — 

"  I  kin  git  it  done  cheaper." 

"  Go  ahead,  then,"  was  the  disgusted  retort.  "  I 
ought  to  have  said  five  dollars.  You  '11  be  paying 
some  lawyer  fifteen  for  a  divorce  in  less  than  six 
months." 

The  street  came  to  an  end  in  an  open  square 
where  a  merry-go-round  attracted  crowds.  Any 
where  in  the  world  there  is  magic  for  the  child  in 
the  monotonous  round  of  those  gayly  painted 
chairs  and  horses,  accompanied  by  the  boisterous 
harmony  of  a  young  hand-organ  or  the  distressing 
plaint  of  an  aged  one ;  but  here  was  delight  for 
any  and  all  representatives  of  a  semi-childlike  race. 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  67 

The  dusky  damosel  and  her  swain,  the  middle-aged, 
and  even  old  black  men  and  women,  were  here 
seen  to  mount  the  fascinating  wooden  horses  and 
ride  them  with  all  the  glee  of  their  grandchildren. 

On  retracing  their  steps  through  the  same  nar 
row  dirty  street  described  above,  the  tourists  were 
genuinely  surprised  to  find  two  representatives  of 
this  race,  both  women,  who  were  attempting  to  ride 
a  horse  of  a  very  different  species,  which  noble 
animal  was  none  other  than  Pegasus  himself. 
They  were  said  to  establish  themselves  there  every 
Saturday  —  on  the  porch  of  a  negro  restaurant  — 
and  sell  hymns  which  they  had  themselves  com 
posed.  These  compositions  were  printed  on  slips 
of  paper  and  offered  to  the  public  at  five  cents 
each.  One  of  the  dusky  poets  was  blind,  and  was 
known  as  the  Blind  Lady ;  the  other  was  a  robust 
young  creature  with  a  heavy  contralto  voice,  who 
attracted  crowds  [of  blacks]  by  singing  her  own 
and  the  Blind  Lady's  productions,  the  music  being 
unquestionably  a  native  product  also.  It  was  inton 
ing  rather  than  singing,  and  was  chiefly  remarkable 
for  monotonous  repetition  and  the  absence  of  any 
but  the  most  rudimentary  elements  of  harmony; 
but  there  was  a  certain  rhythm  of  word  and  rich 
ness  of  tone  that  were  not  without  charm. 

A  slip  was  purchased  and  examined  by  the  trav 
ellers  with  great  curiosity,  desirous  to  form  an  esti 
mate  of  the  talents  of  these  unexpected  minstrels. 
At  the  top  was  printed  in  large  letters,  "  Noah, 


68  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

Hoist  the  Window,  By  Rachel  Macky."  Then 
followed  the  hymn,  epic  poem,  or  whatsoever  it 
might  be,  which  they  had  heard  delivered  in  the 
rich,  chanting  voice  of  its  author:  — 

"  God  commanded  old  Noah  one  day, 
Told  old  Noah  to  build  an  ark. 
In  the  woods  old  Noah  did  go, 
And  the  first  thing  that  old  Noah  done, 
Noah  cut  his  timber  down. 
Next  thing  that  old  Noah  done, 
Old  Noah  laid  the  foundation  down. 
The  ark  was  made  of  gopher  wood. 
The  next  thing  that  old  Noah  done, 
Old  Noah  commenced  to  frame  his  ark. 
How  long  was  Noah  building  the  ark  ? 
Noah  was  a  hundred  and  twenty  years 
Building  on  the  ark  of  God. 
A  foolish  man  came  riding  by, 
And  pointed  the  finger  of  scorn  at  Noah, 
And  called  Noah  that  foolish  man  — 
Building  his  ark  on  this  hard  dry  land. 
And  Noah  replied  to  the  foolish  man : 
'Foolish  man,  you  had  better  pray; 
I  am  looking  for  judgment  every  day.'  " 

And  so  on,  at  great  length.  At  the  end  of  each  line 
the  following  "chorus"  was  sung  without  fail:  — 

"  Hoist  the  window,  let  the  dove  come  in." 

Young  Shepherd  thought  of  blind  Homer,  with 
a  smile  at  the  comparison.  He  thought  the  subject 
chosen  was  alive  with  the  elements  of  an  epic,  how- 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  69 

ever,  and  that  it  might  well  be  doubted  if  the  bard 
or  rhapsode  who  struck  his  harp  in  the  andronitis 
of  the  Greek  home  and  recited  from  Hesiod  or 
Homer  was  accorded  more  earnest  attention  than 
was  now  given  this  robust  young  negress.  He 
thought  it  unlikely  that  the  names  of  Rachel 
Macky  and  the  Blind  Lady  would  ever  be  written 
on  "  fame's  eternal  bead-roll,"  but  there  was  every 
indication  that  they  would  always  remain  a  wonder 
and  delight  to  their  friends. 

"  The  landlord  said  we  should  go  down  into  the 
'Neck*  if  we  wanted  to  see  negroes,"  he  remarked, 
as  they  were  returning  to  their  hotel. 

"  They  are  so  disgusting,  but  yet  so  interesting," 
said  Mrs.  Blossom.  "  Perhaps  I  '11  go  there  next 
spring.  I  think  I  shall  stop  here  on  my  return 
from  Jamaica.  I  want  to  see  more  of  my  niece,  and 
of  that  '  queen '  of  yours,  too." 

The  place  called  the  "  Neck "  which  they  had 
been  recommended  to  visit  was  the  negro  section 
of  the  town,  in  reality  a  teeming  suburb  containing 
almost  as  many  inhabitants  as  Barcelona  proper. 
Here  were  two  churches,  a  public  hall,  two  school- 
houses,  and  many  fairly  comfortable  little  dwelling- 
houses,  containing  from  two  to  five  rooms  each, 
and  not  a  few  cheerless  hovels.  In  one  of  these 
latter  lived  Josephine  and  Cicero  Witherspoon. 
They  were  not  as  prosperous  as  some  of  their  neigh 
bors,  and  found  it  necessary  to  live  in  an  aged 
shanty  of  two  rooms,  for  which,  including  the 


70  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

surrounding  inclosure  of  half  an  acre,  they  paid  a 
rent  of  two  dollars  per  month.  It  may  seem 
strange,  but  Josephine  thought  the  amount  exces 
sive,  and  loudly  abused  the  landlord  for  his  shame 
less  avarice  whenever  he  sent  her  a  dun  for  rent 
overdue.  This,  it  may  be,  was  partly  because  she 
did  all  the  paying  that  was  done  herself,  her 
husband  being  a  conscienceless  vagabond  who  was 
never  known  to  pay  anything.  Fortunately,  she 
was  a  celebrated  laundress,  and  did  the  washing  of 
a  number  of  single  men  of  the  white  race,  each  one 
of  whom  paid  her  monthly  a  sum  exceeding  the 
rent,  and  so  she  managed  not  to  be  turned  out,  and 
contrived  to  clothe  her  children,  feed  her  husband, 
and  indulge  herself  in  a  few  vanities. 

Josephine  was  a  fat  blooming  matron  of  thirty 
summers,  strong,  healthy,  good-humored,  willing 
to  work,  satisfied  with  little,  easily  moved  to 
laughter,  enamoured  of  song;  her  children  never 
went  hungry,  and  she  herself  was  always  decently 
clothed.  '  Yet  she  was  not  happy.  She  was  willing 
to  forgive  Cicero  for  shirking  all  responsibility  and 
compelling  her  to  support  the  family,  but  she 
could  not  forgive  him  for  being  unfaithful.  He 
was  a  youth  of  eighteen  when  they  married,  and 
she  a  widow  of  twenty-five,  and  there  were  now 
three  more  children  added  to  the  five  resulting 
from  her  first  very  early  marriage.  Cicero  was 
a  hunter,  a  fisherman,  a  loafer  addicted  to  light 
theft  and  lying,  —  anything,  everything  but  what 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  71 

he  ought  to  have  been.  He  condescended  to  hire 
himself  out  just  often  enough  to  escape  the  vagrant 
law,  meanwhile  working  havoc  in  the  fowl-houses, 
melon-patches  and  potato-banks  of  the  white  man. 
Josephine  was  of  an  easy  conscience  and  accepted 
the  spoils  without  rancorous  comment;  but  when 
Cicero  smiled  too  openly  upon  the  comely  dusky 
maids  of  the  Neck  she  did  not  spare  him. 

At  the  same  hour  that  the  Northern  visitors 
started  on  their  tour  of  exploration  near  the  busi 
ness  quarter  in  Barcelona,  Josephine  stood  sing 
ing  over  her  wash-tub  at  her  home  in  the  Neck. 
There  was  a  China-tree  in  the  rear  of  her  house 
which  provided  a  cool  shade,  but  Josephine  pre 
ferred  to  work  in  her  front  yard,  whence  she  could 
see  those  who  came  and  went  on  the  street,  and 
now  stood  there  bare-headed  in  the  hot  October 
sun.  As  she  took  the  steaming  garments  from  her 
wash-pot,  placing  them  in  dripping  wads  on  an 
upright  sawed  round  of  a  pine-tree,  and  belabored 
them  vigorously  with  a  stout  "  battlin'-stick,"  every 
blow  precipitating  a  light  shower  upon  all  things 
within  a  radius  of  ten  feet,  including  her  three 
younger  children  playing  near,  Josephine  sang 
with  that  joyous  forgetfulness  which  is  the  African 
woman's  solace.  Now  and  then  she  stopped  sing 
ing  to  order  her  children  away  from  the  fire,  or  to 
soliloquize,  the  burden  of  her  oral  thought  being 
the  recreant  Cicero  as  a  rule ;  and  again  she  would 
call  to  the  woman  seated  on  the  porch  of  the 


72  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

neighboring  house  and  exchange  with  her  a  few 
friendly  remarks.  Anon,  seeing  a  young  woman 
passing  on  the  street,  she  left  her  work,  went  and 
leaned  on  her  gate,  and  gossiped  with  her  for  ten 
minutes.  As  the  girl  was  about  to  move  on,  she 
detained  her  with  the  following :  — 

"Look  yuh,  Susan,  Reba  Law'nce  want  dat 
money  for  dat  dress,  you  see  her  so.  She  say  she 
got  to  have  it." 

"  Let  her  come  git  it,  den,"  said  Susan,  con 
temptuously. 

"  You  been  owin'  it  six  months." 

"  Don't  care  if  I  is.  I  '11  owe  it  six  years  if  I 
want  to.  I  aim  to  pay  it  when  I  git  ready  and  not 
befo'." 

Josephine  laughed  loud  and  long,  as  if  greatly 
amused,  and  her  look  of  appreciation  seemed  to 
recognize  in  Susan's  pert  remarks  the  very  soul  of 
wit.  Josephine  was  one  of  your  good-natured 
chameleons  who  always  take  their  color  from  the 
nearest  object. 

"  You  better  pay  dat  money,"  she  said,  still 
laughing.  "  Reba  say  she  '11  have  you  'rested  and 
put  in  jail."  Clearly  Josephine's  memory  could 
not  be  relied  on,  for  not  only  had  the  unhappy 
young  seamstress  not  threatened  an  arrest,  but 
when  the  enthusiastic  Josephine  proposed  to 
"  beat "  the  stubborn  Susan  she  had  distinctly 
advised  a  less  violent  course,  preferring  even  to 
relinquish  her  claim. 


SONS  OF  HAM.  73 

Susan  received  the  threat  with  indifference,  re 
torting  scornfully  as  she  moved  away,  "  Dat  po' 
young  buckra  woman  better  not  fool  wid  me" 

The  next  passer-by  who  distracted  Josephine's 
attention  from  her  labors  was  a  white  woman,  a 
tall,  gaunt,  pale-faced  creature  who  was  far  from 
attractive  outwardly.  Her  name  was  Simpson,  and 
she  lived  with  her  husband  and  children  on  a  small 
farm  just  outside  of  town.  The  Simpsons  were 
natives  of  a  New  Jersey  village  and  had  settled  in 
their  present' position  soon  after  the  war,  having 
come  South  for  the  benefit  of  a  milder  climate. 
Simpson  was  a  brick-layer,  but  ill-health  prevented 
him  from  following  his  trade  closely  and  he  had 
never  been  prosperous,  being  now  less  so  than 
ever.  He  was  too  poor  to  send  his  children  to 
school,  and  it  was  one  of  his  sons  whom  Reba  was 
teaching  to  read  in  return  for  his  labor  at  odd 
times.  Simpson  was  a  man  of  some  intelligence, 
and  his  voice  was  now  and  then  heard  in  the  politi 
cal  debates  which  could  frequently  be  heard  on  the 
main  street  of  Barcelona.  He  lost  no  opportunity 
to  revile  the  State  law  which,  in  effect,  provided  a 
free  school  for  the  blacks  but  not  for  the  whites. 
The  school-fund  was  from  a  tax  on  property, 
nine-tenths  of  which  was  owned  by  the  whites,  and 
was  distributed  per  capita,  irrespective  of  color. 
The  fund  was  not  adequate,  and  no  educated 
white  man  could  be  found  to  open  a  school  without 
further  remuneration.  On  the  other  hand,  fairly 


74  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

competent  negro  men  were  glad  to  take  the 
chances  and  teach  for  the  public  money  alone ;  and 
so  the  black  schools,  being  absolutely  free,  were 
crowded,  the  pittance  apportioned  to  each  child 
amounting  to  a  considerable  sum  in  the  aggregate 
and  satisfying  the  teachers.  But  in  the  case  of  the 
white  schools,  the  public  fund  served  only  to  re 
duce  the  regular  price  of  tuition,  and  the  very  poor 
were  obliged  to  stay  away. 

On  going  back  and  forth  from  town,  the  Simp 
sons  were  obliged  either  to  make  a  wearisome 
detour  or  pass  through  the  Neck.  It  is  notorious 
that  the  average  Southern  negro  has  no  respect 
for  the  poor  white  man  or  woman.  This  is  only 
the  appearance ;  the  reality  is  that,  in  such  cases, 
he  dares  to  allow  his  suppressed  hatred  for  the 
race  in  general  to  appear  openly.  The  rich  or 
otherwise  powerful  realize  little  of  this ;  the  Simp 
sons  understood  it  thoroughly,  being  not  infre 
quently  the  victim  of  it  in  their  journeys  through 
the  Neck.  Josephine  had  never  been  personally 
aggrieved  by  the  gaunt  Mrs.  Simpson,  and  yet  her 
contempt  for  that  woman  knew  no  bounds ;  and 
she  one  day  purposely  ran  against  her  in  the  street, 
loudly  declaring  that  "  po'  buckra  "  should  "  give 
her  the  road  " !  It  was  a  fact  patent  to  the  dullest 
comprehension  that  whatever  collided  with  the 
heavy  Josephine  would  be  rudely  shaken,  and  Mrs. 
Simpson  had  not  failed  to  suffer  from  the  shock. 
Thereafter,  on  passing  through  the  Neck,  she 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  •    75 

invariably  provided  herself  with  a  short,  sharp- 
pointed  stick  or  a  similar  weapon,  which,  one  later 
day  when  Josephine  again  attempted  her  playful 
manoeuvre,  came  into  rude  and  painful  contact 
with  the  latter's  fleshy  person  and  caused  her  to 
avoid  such  amusement  in  future. 

All  this  is  to  explain  why  Josephine  began  to 
laugh  as  soon  as  she  observed  the  approach  of  the 
unfortunate  Mrs.  Simpson,  and  to  call  out  loudly 
to  her  friend  on  the  porch  of  the  neighboring 
house: — 

"  Ca'line  !  O  Ca'line  !  you  want  to  see  a  pond- 
gannet  ?  "  l 

"  Wher'bouts? "  responded  "Ca'line,"  looking 
toward  the  swamp  in  the  distance. 

"  Shoo  !  —  don't  have  to  go  to  de  swamp  to  see 
a  pond-gannet  dese  days,"  shrieked  Josephine, 
almost  overcome  with  laughter.  "  I  see  a  lank, 
white  pond-gannet  go  walkin'  by  yuh  'most  every 
day." 

Caroline  now  understood  the  situation  and 
laughed  as  loudly  as  her  neighbor,  meanwhile 
staring  straight  at  the  passing  white  woman  who 
understood  also  and  looked  the  other  way  in 
labored  unconcern. 

"  Ca'line,  you  sen'  your  chillun  to  school  and  I 
sen'  my  chillun  to  school,"  continued  Josephine, 
in  great  glee,  "  but  heap  o'  dese  buckra  so  po'  dey 

1  Locally,  a  tall  white  crane. 


76  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

have  to  keep  dey  chillun  home.  If  I  was  like  some 
o'  dese  po'  buckra  I  'd  go  off  and  crawl  in  a  hole 
and  stay  dere." 

"  And  if  I  had  my  will,"  muttered  the  furious 
Mrs.  Simpson,  passing  on,  "  I  'd  have  you  and 
every  other  nigger  drummed  out  of  this  country !  " 

Josephine  continued  to  indulge  in  these  pointed 
remarks,  punctuated  by  shrieks  of  laughter,  until 
the  "  pond-gannet "  was  well  out  of  hearing,  then 
returned  to  her  tubs.  About  half  an  hour  later 
the  schoolmaster  known  as  Professor  Brice,  and 
another  well-dressed  and  well-fed  man,  a  good 
many  years  his  senior,  stopped  at  the  gate.  The 
latter  was  one  of  the  many  negro  preachers  of 
Barcelona  and  Malvern  County,  and  was  known  as 
Parson  Smith. 

"  Is  Mr.  Witherspoon  home,  Mis'  Witherspoon  ?  " 
they  asked. 

Josephine  said  he  was  not,  but  she  was  expect 
ing  him  every  minute;  would  they  not  come  in? 
She  advanced  toward  them  with  a  smile  of  rapture, 
reflecting  upon  the  honor  of  having  both  the  par 
son  and  the  professor  at  her  gate,  and  hoping  the 
watchful  neighbors  were  duly  impressed. 

"  We  ain't  got  time  to  stop  now,"  the  professor 
replied.  "  I  wish  you  'd  tell  Cicero  we  'd  like  to 
meet  him  at  the  hall  to-morrow  night.  We  want 
to  organize  a  debatin'  club." 

Josephine  promised  effusively  to  transmit  the 
message,  and  the  distinguished  visitors  passed  on. 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  77 

"Cicero  is  mighty  triflin',"  said  the  parson  when 
they  were  out  of  hearing,  "  but  he  's  smart,  and  I 
reckon  he  could  make  a  pretty  good  speech.  We 
ought  to  have  Mamie-Lou  John,  too ;  he  ain't  no 
fool  hisself." 

Josephine  accomplished  little  at  her  tubs  that 
afternoon.  The  parson  and  the  professor  were 
hardly  out  of  sight  when  her  attention  was  again 
taken  off  her  work.  Two  persons,  a  young  man 
and  a  young  woman,  were  now  passing  on  the  op 
posite  side  of  the  street,  apparently  much  absorbed 
in  each  other.  A  low,  delighted  laugh  from  the 
latter  reached  Josephine's  ears  and  she  immediately 
made  use  of  her  eyes.  Yes,  it  was  she —  Rosetta; 
and  there  beside  her  was  Cicero  deftly  employing 
his  flattering  tongue. 

"  Chillun,  keep  out  dat  fire  !  "  ordered  Josephine, 
savagely,  as  she  buttoned  her  loosened  sleeve  above 
the  elbow,  grasped  the  hickory  clothes-stick  firmly, 
and  rushed  forward  as  if  to  battle.  Her  husband, 
to  all  appearances,  was  merely  taking  the  air  in 
agreeable  company,  but  when  she  saw  him  and  his 
companion  Josephine  boiled  over  more  impetu 
ously  than  her  wash-pot  had  ever  done  over  the 
hottest  fire.  The  fire  of  jealousy  —  ah  !  Flinging 
wide  the  gate,  she  flew  across  the  street  and  bore 
down  upon  them,  to  the  mute  astonishment  of 
Cicero  and  the  terror  of  Rosetta.  It  was  the  same 
giddy  Rosetta  who  had  sent  Reba  urgent  word  to 
make  her  dress  "  tight  in  de  wais'." 


78  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  Look  yuh,  Cis'ro  !  "  cried  Josephine,  flourish 
ing  her  battling-stick,  "  you  better  be  in  dat 
g-yardin'  plantin'  turnips  and  holpin'  me  feed  dem 
chillun,  stidder  foolin'  'long  yuh  wid  dis  gal ! " 
Then  to  Rosetta:  "  Wut  you  doin'  yuh,  you  triflin' 
hussy  !  Cl'ar  out  from  yuh  right  straight !  " 

"  Wut  in  de  name  o'  goodness  I  done  to  you?  " 
demanded  Rosetta,  with  spirit.  "  I  like  to  know  is 
it  any  yo'  business  if  I  walk  'long  dis  street?  'T ain't 
none  o'  yo'  street." 

"  Leave  yuh  !  "  cried  Josephine,  furiously. 

"  I  won't  do  it  till  I  git  ready,"  the  girl  retorted. 

"  You  sha'n't  sass  me  dat-a  way  in  front  o'  my 
own  yard,  you  triflin'  — !  "  and  losing  the  rest 
of  her  words  in  the  tempest  of  her  rage,  Josephine 
suddenly  collared  her  enemy  and  inflicted  several 
smart  raps  across  her  head  with  the  battling-stick. 

"Look  yuh,  woman,  is  you  crazy?"  remon 
strated  Cicero,  endeavoring  to  interfere.  "  You 
want  'em  come  and  take  you  to  jail  yuh  dis  eben- 
in'  ?  Better  mind  wut  you  —  "  But  the  stick  just 
then  came  in  contact  with  his  own  head,  and  he 
made  haste  to  stand  out  of  range. 

Her  attention  thus  divided,  Josephine's  grasp  of 
Rosetta' s  collar  relaxed  somewhat,  and  the  fright 
ened  girl  broke  wildly  away  and  ran ;  whereupon 
the  unsatisfied  avenger  entered  upon  an  exciting 
chase,  but  being  soon  outdistanced  she  retraced 
her  steps,  puffing  and  blowing  with  great  energy, 
and  bent  upon  a  more  satisfactory  reckoning  with 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  79 

her  recreant  spouse.     But  sly,  slippery  Cicero,  in 
the  local  idiom,  had  made  himself  scarce. 

Does  this  sound  like  burlesque?  No  one  will 
think  so  who  has  visited  Barcelona  and  explored 
the  Neck. 


VI. 


ClCERO  turned  up  in  time  to  get  his  supper,  how 
ever,  and  for  two  hours  there  was  a  war  of  words, 
verging  now  and  again  perilously  near  a  physical 
scuffle.  In  some  neighboring  households  the  dis 
pute  would  have  been  settled  in  short  order  by 
means  of  a  stick  in  the  hands  of  the  husband; 
but  Josephine  was  as  strong  as  an  ox  and  Cicero 
was  afraid  of  her.  Therefore  his  weapon  took  the 
shape  of  an  olive-branch.  He  talked  earnestly  and 
repentantly,  being  vividly  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  his  course  had  imperilled  his  claim  upon  the 
three  meals  a  day  which  his  wife  provided;  for 
Josephine  vowed  that  she  would  "  quit "  him,  that, 
in  other  words,  she  was  done  with  him  forever. 

The  pretended  penitent  solemnly  promised  not 
only  to  smile  upon  Rosetta  no  more,  but  to  reform 
and  go  to  work,  and  so  there  was  a  truce.  But 
Cicero's  promises  were  no  more  to  be  relied  on 
than  water  in  a  sieve,  —  he  who  had  been  known  to 
engage  his  service  to  a  half-dozen  farmers  for  the 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  81 

same  Monday  morning,  only  to  leave  them  all  in 
the  lurch  and  go  off  for  a  day's  fishing !  Heedless 
of  consequences,  refusing  to  shoulder  the  responsi 
bility  of  anything  under  the  sun,  —  this  was  his 
character,  as  Josephine  well  knew,  though  none  the 
less  fond  of  him.  Within  two  weeks,  if  there  was 
any  change  at  all,  his  behavior  was  worse  than 
ever.  He  began  to  absent  himself  from  home  for 
days  at  a  time,  and  finally  ceased  to  make  even  the 
most  insignificant  contribution  towards  the  house 
hold  food  supply,  either  from  the  despoiled  hen 
roosts  and  potato-banks  of  the  white  man  or  from 
more  legitimate  sources. 

About  this  time  Josephine  fell  sick,  her  children 
suffered  for  attention,  and  she  longed  for  the 
recreant  Cicero's  presence  in  vain.  During  her 
illness  an  event  occurred  which  shook  the  Neck  to 
its  foundations,  an  event  of  no  less  great  impor 
tance  than  the  arrival  of  the  circus  at  Barcelona. 
The  Neck  turned  out  en  masse,  and  Josephine's 
children  begged  to  go  with  the  rest  of  the  world ; 
but  there  was  no  money,  and  Cicero  was  out  of 
reach.  On  the  morning  after  all  was  over,  their 
neighbor  "  Ca'line  "  appeared  among  them.  She 
was  full  of  the  "  show,"  and  after  expressing  due 
sympathy  and  concern  for  the  ailing  Josephine, 
allowed  her  tongue  full  freedom  of  exercise  upon 
the  engaging  topic. 

"  I  would  n'  'a  miss  it  for  five  hundud  dollahs," 
she  declared.  "  Josephine,  you  des  ought  to  been 

6 


82  THE   SONS  OF  HAM. 

dere.  I  never  see  de  like  o'  de  big  gang  o'  people 
struttin'  dem  street,  and  den  dem  poscessions 
gwine  thoo  town  wid  mens  all  dress  up  in  red 
shiny  clothes  settin'  up  in  dem  big  gold  wagins 
tootin'  dey  horn  —  oh-y  !  dat  was  putty !  Me  and 
Doshy  Bostick  and  a  whole  passel  o'  people 
followed  'em  round  town  tell  we  was  plum'  wo'  out. 
But  all  dat  was  n'  nut'n  to  when  we  got  inside 
de  show  and  seen  all  dem  lions  and  taggers  and 
hoppypotymusses,  and  all  dat  cuttin'  up  and  gwine 
on  in  de  show  ring !  Gentermens !  I  could  n' 
hardly  b'lieve  my  eyes  to  see  dem  mens  in  dem 
tight  putty  clothes,  lookin'  like  dey  was  'most 
necked,  swingin'  so  reckless  up  in  dem  swings  'way 
up  de  top  de  tent.  And  den  dat  sassy  clown  talk- 
in'  he  funny  talk,  and  den  when  dey  brung  out  de 
ole  elephant  in  de  ring  —  oh, people!  hit  make  me 
putty  nigh  bust  a-laughin'  to  see  dat  tremenjous 
big  ole  creetur  git  up  on  he  hind  legs !  Mighty 
sorry  you  sick;  you  ought  to  been  dere  sho'." 

"  Did  n'  hab  no  money  nohow,"  said  Josephine, 
with  gloomy  resignation. 

Whereupon  "  Ca'line "  looked  inexpressibly 
shocked,  and  asked  why  Cicero  could  not  have  sup 
plied  it.  Cicero  was  at  the  show  and  had  money, 
too ;  "  Ca'line  "  had  seen  him  with  her  "  own  eyes  " 
in  the  company  of  Rosetta  Hightower  and  another 
dusky  damosel.  He  paid  their  way  in, —  she  had 
seen  him  "haul  out  de  money;  "  furthermore,  after 
the  performance  she  had  seen  him  treat  them  to 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  83 

parched  peanuts  and  the  seductive  red  lemonade. 
Why  was  he  not  spending  all  that  money  on  these 
children  ?  —  that  was  what  "  Ca'line  "  would  like  to 
know. 

Josephine  made  no  rejoinder,  but  when  her 
friend  was  departing  she  said:  "  Ef  you  see  Cis'ro, 
I  wish  you  'd  tell  him  I  want  him.  Tell  him  I  sick, 
and  dese  chillun  ain't  got  nuthin'  to  eat,  and  ef  he 
don't  make  'ase  and  come  on  yuh  he  better !  Tell 
him  I  ses-so." 

"  Ca'line  "  promised  to  carry  the  message,  but 
there  was  no  sign  of  Cicero  that  day.  On  the  follow 
ing  morning  a  small  bag  of  meal  arrived,  but  still 
no  Cicero.  Josephine  was  now  better  and  left  her 
bed,  cooking  some  corn  bread  and  giving  it  to  her 
children  with  sugar-cane  syrup  from  a  jug  which 
still  survived  the  famine.  Then  she  stirred  up  the 
remainder  of  the  meal  for  an  immense  pone  of 
bread ;  it  has  been  asserted  that  she  stirred  "  brick 
bats"  into  the  mixture,  but  this  was  doubtless  only 
an  inference.  At  any  rate,  she  baked  it  very 
brown  and  very  hard,  then  got  ready  to  go  into 
town. 

About  an  hour  before  sunset  that  afternoon,  as 
the  rascal  Cicero  sat  on  a  goods-box  in  the  rear  of 
a  shop  in  Barcelona,  enjoying  a  chat  and  a  stalk 
of  sugar-cane  with  his  chum  Mamie-Lou  John,  he 
suddenly  became  aware  that  his  wife  was  bearing 
down  upon  him  with  the  speed  and  spfrit  of  an 
avenger.  Her  gaze  was  fierce  from  afar,  and, 


84  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

convinced  that  the  bag  of  meal,  instead  of  being 
received  as  a  peace  offering,  had  produced  the 
effect  of  the  last  straw  in  the  fable  of  the  camel, 
Cicero  trembled. 

"  H-yuh  you  is,  is  you?"  cried  the  enraged 
woman,  as  she  rushed  upon  the  scene. 

Cicero  slid  from  off  the  goods-box  and  darted 
toward  the  back  door  of  the  shop,  but  Josephine 
was  quick  to  cut  off  his  retreat.  Before  he  knew 
it  he  was  hemmed  in  a  corner  or  angle  made  by  a 
pile  of  boxes  and  the  house  wall,  facing  his  trium 
phant  accuser,  who  stood  glaring  at  him,  one  hand 
on  her  hip  while  the  other  hung  hidden  in  the 
folds  of  her  dress. 

"  Be   ashame'o'  yerself!  "  she  said  breathlessly. 

"  G '  way  from  yuh,  'oman  and  lem-me  'lone  !  " 
cried  Cicero,  attempting  to  slip  out  of  his  prison. 

"  Git  back,  nigger !  "  shouted  Josephine,  more 
enraged.  "  Ef  you  don't  stand  up  dere  and  listen 
at  me,"  she  continued,  in  the  extravagant,  wind-bag 
language  characteristic  of  her  kind,  "  I  swear  I'll 
fling  you  down  and  stomp  you  right  yuh  in  de 
broad  open  day !  " 

At  this  fearful  threat  the  culprit  hesitated  to 
move,  and,  steadily  glaring  at  him,  Josephine 
slowly  lifted  her  left  hand  from  the  folds  of  her 
frock  and  brought  to  view  the  enormous  pone  of 
corn  bread. 

"  Dis  wut  you  send  me  to  feed  my  chillun  wid, 
eh?  "  she  cried  contemptuously,  holding  it  up  and 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  85 

breaking  off  a  large  piece.  "  Why  n't  you  come 
home,  go  to  work,  and  feed  my  chillun?  —  say! 
you  low-down,  triflin'  scamp  ! "  And  she  let  fly 
the  broken  piece  of  bread  and  struck  him  in  the 
face,  to  the  intense  amusement  of  the  gathering 
crowd. 

"Is  you  crazy,  'oman?  "  was  Cicero's  nervous 
ejaculation,  while  dodging  the  next  piece.  But 
she  refused  to  desist,  breaking  up  the  pone  and 
hurling  fragment  after  fragment  at  him,  sometimes 
striking  him,  but  more  often  the  house  wall  a  foot 
or  two  to  the  right  or  the  left. 

"  Now  den,"  concluded  Josephine,  after  pausing 
to  catch  her  breath,  "  mind  wut  I  tell  you  :  I  don't 
want  nuthin'  mo'  to  do  wid  you  from  dis  on ;  and  ef 
ever  you  come  foolin'  round  my  house  I  aim  to 
bust  you  wide  open,  you  year  me !  Des  put  yo' 
foot  inside  o'  dat  do'  ef  you  dare !  " 

With  that  she  raised  aloft  the  knotty  remnant  of 
the  pone  of  bread,  and  hurled  it  at  him  with  all  her 
strength.  It  struck  the  wall  two  feet  above  his 
head  and  fell  upon  him  in  a  shower  of  fragments ; 
after  which  fitting  climax  Josephine  wheeled  about 
with  an  assumption  of  extravagant  haughtiness  and 
contempt,  and  went  her  way  homeward,  angrily 
and  audibly  communing  with  herself  all  along  the 
road.  Left  to  himself,  the  humiliated  Cicero  lost 
no  time  in  making  his  escape  from  the  gibing  specta 
tors,  who  were  loath  to  see  the  end  of  so  unusual 
and  so  entertaining  a  "  fight." 


86  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

Meanwhile  Rosetta  Hightower  was  absorbed  in 
her  own  passions,  desires,  and  interests.  She  was 
only  about  eighteen,  but  already  loved  unlawfully 
and  had  entered  into  very  close  relations  with  the 
green-eyed  monster.  She  was  of  the  New  South, 
had  attended  school  during  several  years,  and 
could  read  and  write ;  but  her  passion  for  Cicero 
and  her  hatred  of  Josephine  were  made  none  the 
less  violent  thereby.  After  being  attacked  on  the 
street  she  burned  with  a  desire  to  revenge  herself, 
and  watched  for  an  opportunity,  meanwhile  doing 
everything  within  her  power  to  attract  Cicero  to 
herself,  and  keep  him  away  from  his  nominal 
home. 

Her  father  was  a  carpenter  who  made  a  fairly 
comfortable  livelihood  and  occupied  one  of  the 
more  pretentious  houses  of  the  Neck,  which  he 
had  built  himself.  It  was  thus  unnecessary  for 
Rosetta  to  go  into  service,  and  she  employed  her 
self  in  assisting  her  mother  at  home,  in  visiting  her 
friends,  and  largely  in  strolling  about  the  streets  of 
Barcelona  in  the  company  of  her  admirers,  and 
riding  on  the  merry-go-round.  She  spent  much 
of  her  own  money  and  that  of  her  admirers  — the 
most  favored  among  these  being  Cicero  —  on  the 
latter. 

A  day  or  two  after  her  encounter  with  Jose 
phine,  Rosetta  heard  some  of  her  acquaintances 
speak  fearfully  of  the  powers  of  a  certain  Mammy 
Nanny,  who  enjoyed  the  dark  reputation  of  being 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  87 

a  trick-doctor  or  sorceress.  It  was  claimed  that 
this  person,  whose  knowledge  of  the  black  art  was 
reputed  to  be  unlimited,  had  recently  "  put  bad 
mouth  on"  (bewitched)  a  young  black  man  who 
formerly  was  in  robust  health,  but  now  seemed 
rapidly  going  into  a  decline.  He  had  found  one 
morning  before  his  door  the  leg  of  a  toad,  two 
rusty  nails,  and  a  piece  of  brier-root,  tied  together 
with  a  strip  of  red  flannel,  and  from  that  hour  his 
health  failed.  An  unknown  enemy  had  procured 
this  "  bad  mouth "  concoction  from  the  sorceress 
and  placed  it  in  the  victim's  path  with  the  sinister 
result  indicated. 

Rosetta  had  often  heard  of  Mammy  Nanny's  secret 
and  unlawful  doings,  but  never  before  had  she 
listened  with  such  absorbed  interest  and  turbulent 
emotions.  This  was  her  opportunity;  she  won 
dered  that  it  had  not  occurred  to  her  before.  Cost 
what  it  might,  she  determined  to  visit  the  old 
woman  and  obtain  not  only  a  love-philter  which  she 
would  give  to  Cicero,  but  a  sinister  charm  as  well, 
with  which  to  afflict  her  enemy,  Josephine.  The  girl 
knew  where  Mammy  Nanny  lived,  and  lost  no  time 
in  seeking  an  interview.  On  the  same  afternoon 
she  slipped  away  stealthily,  and  penetrated  the 
woods  below  the  Neck,  where  the  conjurer's  hut 
was  to  be  found,  her  courage  and  determination 
gradually  failing  her  as  she  approached.  The  old, 
tumble-down  house  was  inclosed  by  a  zigzag  rail- 
fence,  and  stood  almost  in  the  edge  of  a  low 


88  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

swamp  which  stretched  gloomily  away,  all  a  tangle 
of  vines,  bushes,  trees,  slimy  moss,  and  stagnant 
water,  with  here  and  there  a  towering  cypress  or 
pine  lifting  itself  above  the  average  level. 

A  dead  black-snake  hung  across  the  fence,  its 
blue-white  belly  upturned  to  the  sky,  in  mute  peti 
tion  to  the  god  of  rain.  This,  at  least,  was  Rosetta's 
interpretation  as  she  looked  away  with  a  shudder. 
Climbing  the  "  gap,"  the  girl  approached  the 
house,  but  suddenly  drew  back  with  a  gasp  of 
terror  as  a  small  live  snake  ran  across  her  path. 
What  if  Mammy  Nanny  kept  a  house  full  of 
snakes  as  pets !  It  might  be  she  tamed  them  by 
the  score,  and  played  with  them,  and  then  ate 
them,  thus  to  league  herself  with  the  devil  and 
acquire  that  unlawful  power  for  which  she  was 
noted.  Rosetta  became  so  unnerved,  in  the  sway 
of  such  thoughts,  that  when  she  reached  the  cabin 
door,  which  was  closed,  she  dared  not  knock. 

"  Mammy  Nanny  !  Mammy  Nanny  !  "  she  called 
faintly  at  last,  starting  at  the  sound  of  her  own 
voice. 

There  was  no  answer,  and  the  sudden,  threaten 
ing  cry  of  a  hawk  in  the  swamp  so  upset  the  girl 
that  she  drew  hastily  away  from  the  door  and 
started  for  the  gap,  ready  to  abandon  her  design. 
But  now  the  odor  of  cooking  meat  saluted  her  nos 
trils  and  stayed  her  feet.  This  was  human,  reason 
able  ;  after  all,  the  situation  might  not  be  so  full  of 
horrors.  Rosetta  concluded  to  steal  around  the 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  89 

house  and  obtain  a  back  view.  Perhaps  the  rear 
door  would  be  open,  and  she  would  be  able  to 
observe  the  old  witch  and  her  surroundings  before 
making  her  own  presence  known.  Tiptoeing  past 
the  angle  of  the  house,  the  girl  halted  abruptly  and 
stood  staring. 

The  rear  inclosure  was  hardly  to  be  called  either 
a  yard  or  a  garden,  being  overrun  with  wire-grass, 
bushes,  and  trees  in  their  native  wild  state.  Near 
the  centre  was  an  open  space,  screened  on  the  one 
hand  by  a  thicket  of  blackjack,  and  on  the  other 
by  a  Cherokee  rose-vine  which  clambered  in  wild 
luxuriance  over  everything  within  range,  including 
the  tall  stump  of  a  pine.  Nettles,  fennels,  and 
jimpson-weed  grew  unchecked  about  the  doorstep, 
and  through  these  for  a  distance  of  some  forty  feet 
a  path  led  out  to  the  open  space,  in  the  centre  of 
which  a  fire  was  burning.  Over  the  fire  a  large 
pot  swung  from  a  tripod  of  three  long  sticks,  and 
near  by  on  a  corn-husk  mat  sat  a  white-haired  old 
black  woman.  Rosetta  now  comprehended  that  it 
was  a  piece  of  meat  stewing  in  this  pot  which  had 
agreeably  affected  her  olfactories  and  restored  her 
courage.  The  sun  shone  hot  upon  everything  and 
the  old  woman  sat  baking  in  it,  with  nothing  but  a 
cotton  cloth  protecting  her  head.  Heat  is  the 
typical  negro's  element. 

Mammy  Nanny  sat  with  her  back  toward  the 
house,  muttering  darkly  to  herself,  and  Rosetta 
dared  not  approach.  However,  she  shifted  her 


90  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

position  in  order  to  obtain  a  better  view,  observing 
then  that  glowing  coals  had  recently  been  raked 
out  of  the  fire  and  that  a  blackened  pan  was  heat 
ing  upon  them  immediately  at  the  trick-doctor's 
feet.  She  saw  also  that  the  old  woman  had  a  live 
dove  in  her  hand,  and  wondered  how  she  could 
have  caught  it.  Hardly  had  she  made  these  obser 
vations  when  Mammy  Nanny  ceased  her  mutter- 
ings,  and,  seizing  the  dove  by  the  neck,  deftly 
wrung  off  its  head;  then,  without  removing  its 
feathers,  she  opened  its  quivering  body  with  a 
knife  and  tore  out  its  heart,  .and  this,  all  covered 
with  blood  as  it  was,  she  put  into  the  hot  pan 
where  it  was  soon  scorched  and  blackened.  When 
little  was  left  but  a  tiny  bit  of  charred  flesh  she 
took  it  up  with  her  bare  hand  and  dropped  it  into 
a  small  copper  mortar  at  her  feet.  Having  poured 
in  a  large  spoonful  of  a  grayish  powder  which  may 
have  been  dark  wheat-flour,  she  seized  the  pestle 
and  pounded  vigorously.  It  was  while  thus  en 
gaged  that  she  was  startled  by  the  sound  of  a  dog 
barking  in  the  woods  and  looked  searchingly  about 
her  with  a  pair  of  sharp,  black,  glittering  eyes. 
These  did  not  fail  to  discover  Rosetta,  who  then 
felt  compelled  to  walk  forward.  The  girl  was 
greatly  frightened,  but  was  the  first  to  speak. 

"  How  you  come  on,  Mammy  Nanny?"  she 
asked,  politely. 

"Wud  you  doin' yuh?  Wud  you  doin'  yuh?" 
was  the  old  woman's  startled  rejoinder,  in  a  husky 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  91 

voice,  as  she  hastily  covered  the  copper  mortar 
with  a  cloth  lying  at  hand.  "  Who  is  you?  Who 
is  you?" 

"  My  name  Rosetta  Hightower.  I  come  git  you 
to  kunjer  somebody  for  me." 

"  Who  tole  you  I  kunjer?  Who  tole  you  I 
kunjer?  "  asked  Mammy  Nanny,  suspiciously. 
"  You  come  to  de  wrong  'oman,  de  wrong  'oman, 
and  you  kin  des  turn  right  round  and  leab  yuh ; 
you  kin  leab  yuh.  I  don't  fool  wid  no  such  triflin' 
young  gal  lak  you,  wut  can't  never  keep  'er  mouth 
shut  'bout  nut'n ;  I  don't  fool  wid  gal  lak  you." 

"  I  won't  tell  nobody.  I  never  tells  nobody 
nothin'.  And  I  '11  pay  you,"  said  Rosetta,  craftily. 

"  Kunjun  work  ginse  you  ef  you  tell,  —  work  ginse 
you  right  straight,"  threatened  the  old  hag. 

Rosetta  offered  to  hold  up  her  right  hand  and 
swear  that  she  would  never  tell.  She  then  seated 
herself  uninvited  on  the  grass  near  the  fire,  staring 
at  the  pan  in  which  the  dove's  heart  had  been 
scorched  and  looking  curiously  at  the  cloth  which 
covered  the  mortar. 

"  Wud  you  want  wid  me?  Wud  you  up  to?" 
suddenly  demanded  Mammy  Nanny. 

"  I  want  you  make  him  love  me,  —  love  nobody 
but  me,"  faltered  Rosetta,  with  averted  eyes. 

"  Who  dat?  "  asked  the  old  woman,  involuntarily 
glancing  toward  the  covered  mortar.  "  Who  dat 
you  want  lub  you  ?  " 

"  Cicero  —  Cicero    Witherspoon.      I   want   you 


92  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

make  him  quit  dat  ole  fat  Josephine  and  marry 
me." 

Mammy  Nanny's  black  restless  eyes  were  riveted 
on  the  trembling  girl,  as  if  they  pierced  to  her  soul. 
"Dat  all  you  want?  Dat  all  you  want?"  she 
demanded. 

"I  w-want  you  put  bad  mouth  on  her  —  Jose 
phine." 

"  Wud  she  done  to  you  ?  " 

"She  —  she  —  run  out  in  de  street  t'other  day 
and  beat  me.  She  pounced  down  on  me  and  beat 
me." 

"  An'  Cis'ro  he  was  dere,  eh?  " 

"  He  was  jes'  walkin'  de  street  wid  me." 

Mammy  Nanny  reflected.  "  Come  nex'  week," 
she  said  at  last.  "  Fotch  me  a  chicken  an'  two 
dollahs  an'  I  '11  git  it  ready;  I  '11  gie  you  bofe  wut 
you  want.  A  chicken  an'  two  dollahs,  ricollec'." 

"Goodness  me !  -r-  two  dollars?"  exclaimed 
Rosetta  with  an  outraged  look.  "You  mus'  think 
I  own  a  bank.  Two  dollars  —  shoo  !  " 

Whereupon  the  old  woman  flew  into  a  violent 
rage  and  ordered  the  girl  off  the  place.  "  Leave 
yuh !  "  she  shrieked,  "  an'  don't  you  put  yo'  foot 
yuh  agin ;  don't  you  put  yo'  foot  yuh  agin. 
An'  if  ever  you  tell  anybody  I  '11  gie  you  de  devil, 
you  yeh  me?  I  '11  gie  you  de  very  devil  !  " 

Rosetta  fled  as  if  for  her  life,  being  thoroughly 
frightened  by  this  outbreak.  She  almost  made  up 
her  mind  that  her  dark  designs  had  better  be 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  93 

abandoned,  but  only  for  the  time.  By  the  follow 
ing  day  her  fears  were  forgotten,  and  all  her  eager 
ness  to  carry  out  her  plans  returned.  She  begged 
her  father  to  give  her  two  dollars,  but  he  refused ; 
and  then  she  went  the  round  of  her  friends  and 
attempted  in  vain  to  borrow  the  sum.  Finally  she 
determined  to  hire  herself  out  and  earn  the  money, 
and  as  she  always  did  as  she  pleased,  no  objection 
was  raised  when  she  announced  that  she  was  going 
into  service.  She  spent  the  greater  part  of  a  day 
going  from  house  to  house  in  Barcelona  before  she 
secured  a  situation.  Many  •  housewives  wanted 
help,  but  they  looked  askance  at  Rosetta,  disliking 
her  appearahce  and  manner  of  speech.  During  a 
whole  morning,  on  mounting  the  steps  of  an  ordi 
nary  or  pretentious  house  and  ringing  the  bell,  the 
girl  invariably  made  known  her  errand  by  means 
of  the  following  formula :  — 

"  Does  the  woman  want  to  hire  a  nurse-lady?  " 
It  is  true  enough  that  the  girl  of  the  Rosetta 
sort  has  no  real  desire  or  intention  of  doing  her 
duty  when  in  service,  —  true  that  she  accomplishes 
as  little  as  possible,  and  that  little  carelessly  and 
unfaithfully,  desiring  only  the  reward ;  but  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  attitude  of  the  average  white 
housewife  toward  her  is  not  encouraging.  She 
recognizes  the  Rosetta  type  at  a  glance  and  gives 
her  no  quarter  before  she  has  been  tried ;  without 
examination,  she  considers  her,  individually,  as 
dirty,  heedless,  selfish,  and  untrustworthy  as  she  is 


94  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

typically.  The  type  of  servant  nearest  to  the  self- 
effacing  slave  is  what  she  likes,  forgetting  that 
self-effacement  and  humble  service,  except  where 
the  employer  is  rich  and  pays  high,  are  now  laid 
away  among  the  fossils  of  another  age. 

Rosetta  was  not  stupid,  and  it  gradually  dawned 
on  her,  from  certain  indications,  that  her  formula 
was  impolitic,  and  she  reversed  it,  inquiring  more 
meekly  if  the  lady  of  the  house  wanted  to  hire  a 
nurse-girl.  After  this  she  observed  that  her  pro 
position  received  more  consideration,  and  finally, 
at  a  house  where  sickness  made  the  situation  des 
perate,  she  was  engaged.  The  girl  disliked  nurs 
ing  heartily  enough,  but  was  determined  to  endure 
it  until  she  obtained  the  desired  sum  of  two  dollars. 
She  made  little  effort  to  please,  however,  and,  but 
for  her  employer's  extremity,  would  have  been 
promptly  discharged.  Although  not  detected  in 
it  by  those  most  nearly  concerned,  it  was  her 
common  practice  to  handle  the  infant  in  her  arms 
with  rudeness  until  it  cried  itself  to  sleep ;  then, 
being  free,  she  would  steal  away  and  spend  an 
hour  or  so  down  town  riding  with  Cicero  on  the 
merry-go-round  or  standing  gossiping  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  that  object  of  perennial  attraction. 

At  last  she  felt  that  she  had  stayed  long  enough 
to  be  entitled  to  an  advance  on  her  month's  wages, 
asked  for  it  and  was  not  refused.  She  was  always 
free  to  go  home  as  soon  as  the  baby  was  asleep, 
and  on  this  evening  departed  early  as  usual,  giving 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  95 

no  word  of  warning  although  fully  determined  not 
to  return.  Descending  the  back  steps,  she  stole 
softly  to  the  fowl-house,  caught  a  hen  by  the  feet 
and  neck  all  at  once,  thus  forestalling  an  outcry, 
and  escaped  to  the  street  with  her  prize.  With 
two  dollars  in  her  pocket  and  a  suffocating  chicken 
under  her  shawl,  she  walked  through  Barcelona 
and  into  the  Neck,  lifted  high  with  hope.  To 
morrow  she  would  again  visit  Mammy  Nanny, 
carrying  the  required  offerings,  and  would  no 
doubt  obtain  the  means  of  securing  the  two  dearest 
wishes  of  her  heart. 

She  was  not  disappointed.  The  trick-doctor 
promptly  furnished  her  with  a  teaspoonful  of  a 
gray  powder  wrapped  in  a  fragment  of  an  old 
newspaper,  instructing  her  to  give  it  to  Cicero  in  a 
glass  of  water,  after  drinking  a  part  of  it  herself. 
Rosetta  examined  this  powder  curiously,  remem 
bering  the  mixture  she  had  seen  pounded  in  the 
copper  mortar,  one  ingredient  of  which  she  knew 
to  be  the  charred  heart  of  a  dove,  and  would  have 
liked  to  ask  questions,  but  dared  not.  However, 
there  was  nothing  alarming  in  a  mere  powder,  and 
she  felt  reasonably  tranquil  until  Mammy  Nanny 
presented  her  with  a  soiled  pasteboard  box  about 
four  inches  square,  and  instructed  her  to  place  the 
contents  on  Josephine's  doorstep  before  break  of 
day  on  the  following  morning.  The  painful  mis 
givings  thereby  awakened  were  rendered  the  more 
acute  by  the  solemn  injunction  not  upon  any  ac- 


96  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

count  to  open  the  box  before  that  hour  or  before 
she  arrived  at  the  place  designated.  What  if  a 
snake  were  in  the  box,  and,  when  she  opened  it  at 
that  dark  morning  hour,  what  if  the  reptile  should 
bite  her  and  the  curse  thus  fall  upon  her  instead 
of  her  enemy!  She  earnestly  begged  that  other 
conditions  might  be  set,  but  Mammy  Nanny  was 
immovable  and  she  was  forced  to  submit. 

During  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  Rosetta 
successfully  contrived  to  have  Cicero  join  her  in 
drinking  the  tasteless  love-philter  without  exciting 
his  suspicion,  but  she  unfortunately  overslept  next 
morning,  and  when  she  reached  Josephine's  gate 
day  was  breaking.  Nevertheless  she  unhesitat 
ingly  opened  the  Pandora-box  and  emptied  the 
evil  contents  upon  the  doorstep,  afterwards  making 
good  her  escape, —  as  she  believed, —  lifted  high 
with  hope  that  the  charm  would  work  in  spite  of 
the  dawning  light. 

However  that  might  be,  the  dawning  light  was 
unquestionably  disastrous  in  another  sense,  betray 
ing  the  personality  of  the  evil-doer.  A  ten-year-old 
child  of  Josephine's  happened  to  be  up  and  out  in 
time  to  see  Rosetta's  hurried  retreat  and  recognize 
her  face.  Consequently  by  seven  o'clock  the  Neck 
was  in  almost  an  uproar,  Josephine  going  from 
house  to  house,  with  loud  outcries,  declaring  that 
she  was  bewitched,  that  Rosetta  had  struck  her  the 
blow,  and  that  she  would  have  the  culprit  "  up  fo' 
de  Mare,"  or  die  in  the  attempt. 


VII. 


THE  mayor's  court  was  unusually  well  attended 
next  morning,  the  court-room,  in  fact,  being  quite 
full.  Three  cases  were  to  come  before  him,  two  of 
which  excited  wide  interest.  The  blacks  crowded 
in  to  see  what  would  be  done  with  Rosetta  for 
"bad-mouthing"  Josephine;  the  whites  gathered 
to  witness  .the  arraignment  of  a  young  rowdy  of 
their  own  race  who  had  distinguished  himself,  while 
slightly  under  the  influence  of  drink,  by  shooting 
at  some  half-dozen  men  on  the  principal  street 
and  failing  to  hit  even  one.  A  desire  to  witness 
the  spectacle  of  an  ignorant  and  incompetent 
mayor  struggling  with  troublesome  cases,  exclu 
sive  of  the  interest  in  the  cases  themselves,  had 
attracted  many. 

The  great  war  upheaval  which  brought  down 
the  leading  class  in  so  many  communities,  and 
placed  the  bottom  rail  on  top,  as  men  said,  was 
instrumental  in  bringing  to  the  front  such  spirits  as 
Adam  Brown,  the  mayor.  As  a  small  tradesman 
and  farmer,  young  in  years,  and  not  a  slaveholder, 

7 


98  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

he  had  taken  no  interest  in  the  war,  voluntarily 
sacrificing  nothing;  during  the  period  of  profound 
financial  prostration  succeeding  that  struggle  he 
had  managed  to  hold  his  own,  and  later  had  forged 
ahead,  in  a  material  sense,  of  the  great  majority 
who  were  utterly  ruined.  He  was  of  the  Malvern 
County  native  homespun,  without  education  or 
training  of  any  sort  to  fit  him  for  public  office, 
but  his  continued  prosperity,  and  perhaps  also  his 
marriage  with  the  widow  of  George  Walton,  the 
educated  refugee,  had  given  him  standing ;  and  by 
posing  as  the  friend  of  the  uneducated  white  man 
and  the  negro,  the  vote  of  which  latter  he  did  not 
scruple  to  buy,  he  had  beaten  the  opposing  forces 
which  represented  the  intelligence  of  the  com 
munity. 

This  successful  "  man  of  the  people "  was  now 
about  fifty,  iron-gray,  determined,  hard-fisted,  but 
really  not  hard-looking;  as  long  as  he  did  not 
open  his  mouth  he  might  pass  for  a  respectable 
representative  of  a  country  town.  The  most  hope 
less  ignorance  is  that  which  is  self-satisfied.  Adam 
Brown  was  the  laughing-stock  of  Barcelona  and 
did  not  know  it.  He  knew  nothing  of  the  forms 
of  procedure  in  a  mayor's  court,  apparently  con 
sidering  it  unnecessary  that  he  should  learn ;  and 
yet  he  was  a  sharp,  shrewd  man,  by  no  means 
lacking  in  what  he  termed  mother  wit.  On  the 
present  occasion  he  opened  the  examination  of  the 
cases  brought  before  him  by  swearing  the  prisoners 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  99 

as  well  as  the  witnesses,  whereat  the  veriest  tyro 
of  a  law  student  was  able  to  smile  broadly. 

The  first  case  was  that  of  four  tramps  who  had 
been  surprised  by  the  local  police  in  a  vacant  house 
in  the  suburbs,  arrested  and  locked  up.  There 
was  absolutely  nothing  in  the  house  for  them  to 
steal,  and  the  fact  that  they  had  built  a  fire  and 
were  toasting  the  bread  begged  about  town  was 
prima  facie  evidence  that  they  had  gone  there 
merely  to  enjoy  their  supper  together  and  spend 
the  night.  But  a  note-book  had  been  found  on  one 
of  them,  who  was  evidently  of  a  literary  turn,  in 
which  there  were  reflections  upon  the  sights  seen 
along  the  course  of  his  travels,  and  here  and  there 
a  brief  quotation  from  the  original  of  Victor  Hugo's 
poems.  This  note-book  had  been  carefully  ex 
amined  before  the  opening  of  court,  and  the  foreign 
lingo  promptly  excited  grave  suspicion.  What  if 
it  were  a  cipher  containing  a  plot  to  rob  the  Barce 
lona  banks !  And  so,  after  swearing  each  of  the 
four  tramps,  his  honor  eyed  them  very  sternly  and 
demanded  to  be  told  their  several  histories. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  solemnly,  "  I  expect  you 
to  tell  me  the  truth." 

The  tramping  "  gentlemen"  very  readily  con 
fessed  that  their  starting-point  had  been  New  York 
and  that  they  were  bound  for  Florida,  that  ill-health 
compelled  them  to  winter  in  a  warmer  clime,  and 
as  they  could  not  afford  to  ride,  they  had  walked ; 
but  when  their  more  intimate  concerns  were  in- 


ioo  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

quired  into,  when  they  were  taxed  with  the  guilt  of 
laziness  and  were  solemnly  asked  why  they  did  not 
go  to  work  and  behave  like  "  gentlemen,"  two  of 
them  said  nothing  and  the  other  two  laughed. 
Finally,  when  the  owner  of  the  note-book  was  en 
joined  to  confess  the  intention  of  the  dark  and 
mysterious  sayings  contained  therein,  and  the  man 
endeavored  to  explain  that  he  had  merely  quoted 
from  his  favorite  author,  there  were  evidences  of 
suppressed  laughter  in  various  parts  of  the  court 
room.  The  mayor  was  not  satisfied  and  again  ex 
amined  the  dark  sayings,  but  they  were  as  puzzling 
as  ever ;  and  at  length  he  sent  the  book  to  Robert 
Morton  who  was  in  the  hall,  with  the  request  that 
he  would  examine  it.  Two  minutes  later  the  note 
book  was  returned  with  the  message  that  there  was 
nothing  therein  to  implicate  the  prisoners.  After 
this  his  honor  was  if  possible  more  perplexed  than 
before,  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  the  accused 
but  unconvicted  tramps. 

1  "  What  would  you  do  with  'em?"  he  asked  in  a 
low  voice  of  a  lawyer  seated  near  him. 
"  You  might  order  them  out  of  town." 
"  Gentlemen,"  said  Adam  Brown,  promptly  dis 
missing  the  case,  "  I  give  you  twenty  minutes  to 
leave  this  town."     Whereupon  the  four  "gentle 
men  "  rose  and  tramped  out   of  the  court-room, 
broadly  smiling. 

The   shooting  case  was   less  embarrassing,  but 
still   the    mayor  was   troubled.     The    young   law- 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  101 

breaker  belonged  to  that  class  of  whites  who  were 
his  own  political  and  personal  friends,  and  he  feared 
that  the  imposition  of  a  proper  penalty  would 
estrange  the  father  and  other  relatives  of  the  pris 
oner;  on  the  other  hand  he  knew  that  great  in 
dignation  was  expressed  by  the  more  intelligent 
element,  who  demanded  that  the  offender  be  pun 
ished  to  the  full  extent  of  the  law.  His  honor  had 
finally  concluded  to  please  the  latter  by  talk  and 
the  former  by  act.  Assuming  a  sad  and  stern  ex 
pression  of  countenance,  he  addressed  the  prisoner 
for  fifteen  minutes  on  the  subject  of  his  shortcom 
ings  in  general  and  his  recent  crime  in  particular. 
His  father  was  a  good  man,  his  grandfather  was  a 
good  man,  —  the  mayor  declared  that  he  knew  the 
whole  connection,  —  but  he,  the  prisoner,  alas,  had 
developed  into  a  rowdy  of  the  worst  type  !  It  was 
sad,  it  was  outrageous ;  this  wicked  young  man 
would  surely  bring  down  his  father's  gray  hairs  in 
sorrow  to  the  grave.  Think  of  it !  Nobody's  life 
was  safe  if  such  crimes  were  allowed  to  go 
unpunished. 

"  If  you  had  n'  'a  been  too  drunk  to  shoot 
straight,  you  might  'a  killed  six  men,"  concluded 
the  mayor,  solemnly.  "  For  this  most  hy-e-nous 
crime,  Gus  Mitchell,  I  therefore  fine  you  twenty 
dollars !  " 

The  descent  of  a  thunderbolt  into  the  midst  of 
the  court-room  would  scarcely  have  occasioned  a 
more  complete  surprise.  Some  of  the  spectators 


102  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

laughed  outright;  others  swore  angrily  beneath 
their  breath,  and  there  was  heard  during  several 
minutes  the  sound  of  low  excited  comment. 

The  quarrel  of  Josephine  and  Rosetta  was  next 
inquired  into.  The  former  was  first  questioned 
and  stated  her  complaint,  indulging  unchecked  in 
a  wholesale  attack  on  the  latter's  general  character, 
independently  of  the  present  offence.  Meanwhile 
the  comely  Rosetta  looked  daggers  and  threatened 
to  interrupt  this  tirade.  The  mayor  listened  till  he 
wearied  of  it,  then  bade  the  plaintiff  sit  down,  and 
turned  to  the  defendant. 

"What  is  your  name?"  he  asked,  with  the  first 
semblance  of  formality  as  yet  shown. 

"  Rosetta." 

"  Rosetta  what?" 

"  Rosetta  Hightower." 

Being  now  allowed  to  speak,  the  girl  solemnly 
denied  the  charge  and  returned  Josephine's  personal 
attack  with  superior  violence,  detailing  the  history  of 
the  assault  made  upon  her  in  the  street  with  pictur 
esque  additions  to  and  extravagant  exaggerations 
of  the  facts.  Neither  the  accuser  nor  the  accused 
dared  mention  the  name  of  Mammy  Nanny,  and 
so  the  old  sorceress  herself  had  not  been  sub 
poenaed  to  appear  in  court. 

"Don't  you  b'lieve  dat  nigger,"  cried  Josephine, 
tearfully.  "  She  gone  and  put  bad  mouth  on  me 
des  like  I  tell  you." 

"  Well,  how  did  she  do  it,  then?  " 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  103 

A  male  friend  of  Josephine's  (Cicero  was  not 
to  be  found)  then  reluctantly  undid  a  package 
wrapped  in  a  newspaper  and  the  dreaded  "  kun- 
jer"  found  on  the  doorstep  was  exhibited  in  court. 
The  mayor  ordered  it  to  be  placed  on  the  table 
before  him  and  examined  it  with  some  curiosity, 
but  with  signs  of  growing  impatience. 

"T  ain't  nothin'  but  a  lot  of  foolishness,"  he 
promptly  exclaimed,  and  seemed  to  wonder  that 
Josephine  still  gazed  upon  it  with  evidences  of  the 
liveliest  terror. 

The  evil  charm  consisted  of  a  large  live  toad 
with  a  strip  of  red  flannel  about  twenty  inches  long 
securely  fastened  to  its  right  hind  foot,  the  other 
end  of  the  flannel  being  attached  to  a  small  pine 
splinter.  Knots  were  tied  at  intervals  along  the 
red  strip,  and  here  and  there  were  fastened  short 
pieces  of  white  sewing-thread.  Attached  to  the 
centre  of  the  string  was  a  small  red-flannel  bundle, 
in  which  were  "found  several  roots  and  sewing- 
needles. 

"  Look  h-yer,  Josephine,  ain't  you  got  no  better 
sense  than  to  think  this  pile  o'  trash  can  hurt  you?  " 
asked  the  mayor,  contemptuously. 

Poor  Josephine  shook  her  head  sadly  and  wiped 
her  overflowing  eyes.  "  I  feel  it  in  my  bones 
a' ready,"  she  said,  with  solemn  conviction. 

The  practice  of  or  belief  in  witchcraft  appears 
to  be  widespread  among  the  blacks  in  the  South. 
The  negroes  of  the  Virginia  tobacco-farms,  the 


104  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

rice  plantations  of  Carolina  and  Georgia,  the  sugar 
cane  plantations  of  Louisiana,  and  elsewhere,  have 
been  found  to  have  as  firm  a  belief  in  the  black  art 
as  the  naked  savages  of  the  pathless  African  bush. 
Among  them,  therefore,  the  adept  in  the  art,  the 
wholly  or  semi-professional  trick-doctor  or  con 
jurer,  is  a  person  of  great  importance  and  an 
object  of  dread  mingled  with  something  of  venera 
tion.  The  chief  business  of  the  adept,  whether 
man  or  woman,  is  the  casting  of  spells  upon  speci 
fied  victims,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  the  bringing  to 
bear  of  counteracting  influences  against  an  evil 
charm  already  active  from  some  other  agency. 
At  one  time  he  is  sought  by  negroes  who  believe 
themselves  to  have  been  bewitched  by  a  rival  pro 
fessional,  and  again  by  such  as  may  desire  a  spell 
to  be  cast  upon  those  who  have  aroused  their 
hatred.  In  the  latter  case  the  adept  usually 
operates  by  causing  a  small  bundle  of  apparently 
trivial  articles  to  be  placed  either  inside  or  near 
the  house  of  the  victim,  who  promptly  recognizes 
the  medium  of  the  art,  the  material  used  varying 
little,  and  is  at  once  the  prey  of  great  fear  and 
distress  of  mind. 

Once  convinced  that  he  has  been  bewitched,  the 
negro  sinks  into  the  deepest  despondency,  and, 
unless  persuaded  that  the  baleful  influence  has 
been  removed,  his  health  declines  steadily.  The 
trick-doctor  is  thus  a  medium  through  which  per 
sonal  enemies  strike  secretly  at  each  other,  and 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  105 

his  presence  in  a  community  necessarily  tends  to 
keep  alive  the  recollection  of  injuries  and  stimu 
lates  the  desire  for  revenge.  The  manner  of  con 
veying  the  curse  varies  somewhat  in  different 
localities  and  at  different  times,  but  no  "bad- 
mouth  "  bugbear  is  apt  to  be  found  without  one  or 
more  of  the  following  ingredients,  —  bits  of  red 
flannel,  pieces  of  brier-root,  sewing-needles,  toads 
either  alive  or  dismembered,  some  portion  of  a 
snake,  cotton  thread,  rusty  nails,  etc.  Sometimes 
a  rude  human  effigy  covered  with  blood  or  pierced 
through  the  heart  with  a  nail  is  used,  suggesting 
the  burning  of  clay  or  waxen  images  in  the  middle 
ages,  which  was  supposed  to  cause  the  persons 
named  to  be  "  melted  or  dried  away  by  continual 
sickness."  l 

Adam  Brown  was  much  perplexed  and  annoyed 
over  the  case,  and  finally  dismissed  it  without 
either  passing  judgment  or  imposing  a  penalty. 
The  evidence  against  Rosetta  depended  wholly  on 
Josephine's  ten-year-old,  which  could  not  therefore 
be  taken  as  conclusive;  and  even  had  she  been 
convicted,  the  mayor  failed  to  see  what  punish 
ment  could  be  rightfully  inflicted  on  a  young 
woman  for  merely  throwing  a  "  lot  of  trash"  on  a 
neighbor's  doorstep.  Sorcery  was  a  thing  of  past 

i  Compare  with  the  ingredients  of  the  "hell-broth  "  stewed 
in  a  caldron  by  the  three  witches  in  Macbeth,  and  note  the 
striking  similarities,  as  the  live  toad,  the  adder's  fork,  lizard's 
leg,  fillet  of  a  fenny  snake,  etc. 


io6  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

ages,  and  the  law  did  not  recognize  it,  so  far  as  the 
mayor  could  learn. 

"  Take  this  trash  and  throw  it  out  of  the  win 
dow,"  he  said  to  Josephine's  friend,  in  great  dis 
gust.  "  And,"  he  continued  severely,  "  you  two 
women  can  go,  and  don't  you  persume  to  come 
before  me  again  with  any  more  such  foolishness. 
If  you  know  what 's  good  for  you,  you  '11  keep  the 
peace  after  this.  If  I  hear  of  you  fightin'  in  the 
street  again,  I  '11  have  you  both  put  on  the  chain- 
gang."  And,  having  duly  impressed  them  with 
his  determination  to  make  good  this  fearful  threat 
in  case  of  a  second  offence,  he  announced  that  his 
court  was  adjourned. 

"  Look  at  him,"  said  Morton,  with  a  smile,  as 
the  mayor  strode  pompously  out  of  the  court-room. 
"  He  looks  as  if  he  imagined  that  he  had  won 
the  applause  of  mankind.  He  '11  be  running  for 
the  legislature  next.  Then  he  '11  want  to  go  to 
Congress." 

"  What  an  exhibition  of  incompetence,"  said 
Colonel  Sanford,  in  rejoinder  to  Morton.  "  Those 
very  tramps  were  able  to  laugh  at  our  mayor. 
Well,  it  is  only  another  object  lesson  in  the  evils 
resulting  from  the  disorderly  association  of  two 
races  in  one  State.  If  the  negro  and  his  bought 
vote  were  out  of  the  way,  it  would  be  impossible 
for  such  a  man  as  Adam  Brown  to  ride  into  power. 
Of  course  he  would  have  a  following  among  his 
like,  but  he  could  not  defy  the  banded  intelligence 
of  this  or  any  other  community." 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  107 

Had  Adam  Brown  overheard  them  he  would 
doubtless  have  chuckled  and  repeated  his  favorite 
aphorism  to  the  effect  that  novv-a-days  the  bottom 
rail  was  on  top.  If  questioned  on  the  subject,  he 
would  have  remarked  in  homely  language  that 
society  in  Barcelona  was  divided  between  those 
who  had  seen  better  days  and  those  who  had  not. 
He  "  thanked  his  stars  "  that  he  belonged  to  the 
latter  class,  that  his  best  days  were  now ;  and  he 
would  not  have  exchanged  present  prosperity  for 
any  amount  of  superior  intelligence  linked  with  by 
gone  success. 

Rosetta  walked  triumphantly  away,  but  the  sad- 
faced  Josephine  lingered  in  the  court-house  square 
and  received  the  condolences  of  a  number  of 
friends,  the  female  portion  of  which  were  less  ab 
sorbed  even  in  sucking  the  snuff-sticks  always  in 
their  mouths  than  in  discussing  the  merits  of  this  in 
teresting  case.  The  majority  advised  her  not  to 
give  herself  any  further  uneasiness,  arguing  that  the 
discovery  of  her  enemy  and  her  prompt  outcry 
and  resistance  of  the  evil,  if  not  her  appeal  to  the 
civil  authorities,  ought  to  break  the  spell.  Some 
thought  that  the  failure  to  deposit  the  charm  at 
the  door  before  break  of  day  was  in  itself  sufficient 
to  break  its  force.  The  professor,  indeed,  went  so 
far  as  to  laugh  at  her  fears,  declaring  that  witch 
craft  was  a  superstition  of  the  past,  and  that  all 
she  had  to  fear  was  her  own  weakness  in  allowing 
herself  to  be  disturbed.  The  parson,  however, 


io8  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

who  was  also  present,  reminded  the  professor  that 
magical  arts  were  mentioned  in  Holy^  Writ,  and 
he  thought  it  was  still  possible  for  men  to  league 
themselves  with  the  devil. 

"  The  white  folks  don't  b'lieve  in  it, —  they  don't 
b'lieve  in  nothin'  hardly,"  he  said,  "  but  all  our 
people  b'lieves  in  it." 

However,  the  consensus  of  opinion  was  that  she 
need  have  little  or  no  fear,  and  Josephine  was  at 
length  in  a  measure  reassured.  Rosetta  would 
have  been  sorry  to  learn  this,  but  now  that  her 
venom  had  been  indulged,  she  cared  little  whether 
her  victim  suffered  or  not.  All  her  hopes  were 
now  centred  on  the  success  of  the  love-philter 
which  already  seemed  assured,  for  since  drinking 
it  Cicero  had  devoted  himself  to  her  more  assidu 
ously  than  ever  before. 

Sam  Thomas  had  attended  the  mayor's  court 
and  after  its  adjournment  retired  to  his  office. 
Josephine  had  seen  him  go,  and  now,  leaving  her 
friends,  she  followed  him  there.  Entering  his 
office,  she  took  note  of  three  empty  beer  bottles 
on  the  floor  near  the  young  lawyer's  desk,  and  in 
the  same  moment,  without  consciously  connecting 
the  two  facts,  observed  that  he  was  growing  rather 
stout.  The  young  man  had  been  bowed  over  his 
desk,  pen  in  hand,  laboriously  copying  and  care 
fully  imitating  the  characteristics  of  the  letters  in 
the  words'  of  a  manuscript  document  which  lay 
before  him.  The  sound  of  the  approaching  step 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  109 

caused  him  to  start  guiltily  and  hastily  gather  up 
the  two  sheets  and  crowd  them  into  a  drawer. 

"Well,  Josephine,  what  can  I  do  for  you?"  he 
then  asked  in  a  friendly  tone,  leaning  back  in  his 
chair  and  putting  his  feet  up  on  the  corner  of  his 
desk.  He  did  not  invite  her  to  sit  down,  and  she 
stood  throughout  the  interview. 

"What  you  gwine  charge  to  git  me  a  —  what 
you  call  it  ?  —  a  v-voce  ?  " 

"A  divorce,  eh?  So  you  are  going  to  quit 
Cicero?" 

"  Done  quit  him  a'ready,"  said  Josephine,  with 
heavy  dignity,  "  and  I  want  to  git  a  divoce  'cordin* 
to  law.  Some  dem  women  in  de  Neck  quit 
dey  husbands  right  and  left  and  take  up  wid  new 
ones,  and  don't  stop  to  study  'bout  no  divoce. 
But  I  ain't  dat  sort.  I  'm  like  white  folks, —  I  want 
my  divoce  'cording  to  law." 

"  That 's  right,"  applauded  Thomas.  "  Well,  I 
reckon  you  won't  have  any  trouble.  You  can 
plead  desertion, —  from  what  I  hear." 

"  I  kin  dat.     But  what  you  charge?  " 

"  I  won't  charge  but  fifteen  dollars." 

"  Fifteen  dollahs!"  cried  Josephine,  with  expand 
ing  eyes.  "  How  in  de  name  o'  goodness  I  gwine 
pay  you  fifteen  dollahs,  man  ?  You  mus'  think  I 
made  out  o'  money.  Shoo  !  " 

"  Great  Scott !  you  don't  meant  to  say  that  ain't 
cheap?"  retorted  the  lawyer.  "  I  ought  to  charge 
fifty." 


no  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

Josephine  looked  undone.  She  had  never  had 
fifteen  dollars  in  her  pocket  at  one  time  in  her  life, 
and  the  divorce  was  therefore  impossible.  The 
idea  of  gradual  payment  in  smaller  sums  did  not 
seem  to  occur  to  her.  She  made  a  movement 
toward  the  door,  remarking  with  an  air  of  great 
discouragement,  "I'll  go  see  dem  t'other  lawyers 
and  see  ef  I  can't  git  it  done  cheaper." 

"  Hold  on,"  cried  Thomas.  "  Maybe  we  can 
make  a  trade.  I  saw  you  comin'  out  of  a  certain 
house  the  other  day,"  he  continued,  as  she  halted 
and  turned  back.  "  Do  you  go  there  often,  —  to 
Mrs.  Lawrence's?" 

"  Dat  I  does  !  Me  and  Miss  Reba  mighty  good 
friends,"  cried  Josephine,  eagerly,  hope  kindling  in 
her  breast  She  saw  a  light ;  she  almost  antici 
pated  the  "  trade."  "  I  gits  work  for  Miss  Reba," 
she  continued,  "  and  I  haf  to  go  dere  'most  eve'y 
two  three  days." 

"You  get  what  for  Miss  Reba?" 

"I  —  I  goes  dere  to  do  jobs  for  her,"  she  stam 
mered,  recollecting  that  the  sewing  was  to  be  a 
secret  as  far  as  possible.  "  Miss  Reba,"  she  hur 
ried  on,  "  is  de  nices',  puttyes'  young  white  lady  in 
dis  town." 

"  She  is,  eh?  "  rejoined  the  young  lawyer,  looking 
as  if  he  admired  his  client's  taste.  "  Well,  Josephine, 
what  I  want  is  for  you  to  speak  a  good  word  for 
me  to  Miss  Reba,  and  if  you  '11  do  that,  and  do  it 
up  brown,  I  '11  tell  you  what  I'll  do.  I  '11  get  your 
divorce  through  for  nothing.  You  understand?  " 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  in 

"  Will  you,  Mr.  Thomas,  sho'  nuf?  "  cried  Jose 
phine,  overjoyed.  "  Yes-sir-ee,  I  '11  speak  a  good 
word  for  you  eve'y  time  I  go  dere.  You  kin  'pend 
on  me.  I  'm  good  at  dat" 

"  But  you  '11  have  to  be  mighty  careful  and  not 
overdo  it,"  he  cautioned  her;  "  and  besides,  here's 
the  point,  it  will  do  no  good  for  you  to  speak  a 
good  word  for  me  unless  you  speak  a  bad  word  for 
another  fellow,  who  is,  I  'm  afraid,  ahead  of  me 
there.  See?" 

Ah  !  it  was  not  so  easy,  then.  Josephine's  face 
fell;  what  if  she  got  herself  into  trouble?  "  Who 
dat  other  one?"  she  asked. 

"  Bob  Morton." 

The  woman  now  looked  more  troubled  than  ever. 
She  had  once  done  Morton's  washing  when  her 
friend,  Maum  Katie,  was  ill,  and  she  had  pro 
nounced  him  in  thought  "  a  mighty  nice  man." 
"What  I  gwine  tell  Miss  Reba  'bout  him?'''  she 
asked,  stubbornly.  "  I  ain't  never  h-yeared  nothin' 
bad  about  him." 

"  Well,  I  don't  say  there  is  anything  'specially 
bad  about  him,"  replied  Thomas,  craftily.  "  He  's 
smart  and  he  's  considered  a  pretty  good  sort  of  a 
fellow,  but  he  used  to  be  a  wild  boy  and  he  drinks 
yet.  Only  the  other  night  a  friend  of  his  had  to 
carry  him  home.  You  can  tell  her  that,  can't 
you?  Young  ladies  are  usually  afraid  of  men  who 
drink." 

Josephine's   glance   fell   upon   the   empty   beer 


H2  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

bottles  as  she  rejoined,  "  I  never  yeared  dat  'bout 
him  befo'." 

"  You  don't  hear  everything." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Thomas,  if  you  ses  so,  of  co'se  hit 's 
so."  Josephine  was  coming  back  to  her  own  con 
cerns,  and  the  question  of  saving  fifteen  dollars 
represented  itself.  "I'll  tell  her,"  she  finally 
agreed,  "  and  I'll  do  my  bes'  for  you." 

"  You  must  n't  tell  her  that  I  told  you,  remem 
ber.  You  must  be  very  careful." 

"  I  '11  tell  her  dat  what  I  year  folks  say." 

"  Don't  waste  any  time  about  it,  either,"  he 
called  after  her  as  she  was  going.  "  I  '11  draw  up 
your  papers  right  away,  and  if  I  find  you  Ve  kept 
your  part  of  the  trade,  you  won't  have  to  pay  me  a 
cent,  understand." 

After  reiterating  her  promise,  Josephine  de 
parted,  leaving  the  young  lawyer  chuckling  over 
his  "  trade."  "  All  is  fair  in  love  and  war,"  he  re 
marked  gayly,  as  he  got  up  and  walked  about  the 
room,  bestowing  hopeful  glances  upon  the  portraits 
of  the  four  "big"  men  which  adorned  the  walls. 

"Well,  if  dat  ain't  mean  !  "  said  Josephine  aloud, 
as  she  went  down  the  stairs,  referring  wholly  to  the 
lawyer's  part  in  the  agreement.  She  failed  to 
characterize  her  own  part.  As  said  before,  Jose 
phine  was  of  an  easy  conscience. 


VIII. 

ADAM  BROWN  lived  in  one  of  the  more  preten 
tious  houses  of  Barcelona,  which,  although  central, 
was  suburban  in  its  surroundings  of  trees,  shrubs, 
and  flowers,  —  not  to  mention  the  sugar-cane 
patch  in  the  rear.  One  afternoon,  two  or  three 
weeks  after  the  holding  of  his  court  which  has 
been  mentioned,  the  mayor  came  home  early  in 
order  to  overlook  the  planting  of  fall-turnips  in  his 
vegetable  garden.  Having  spent  an  hour  there, 
he  cut  a  stalk  of  cane  and  returned  to  the  house, 
peeling  and  chewing  it  as  he  crossed  the  newly 
swept  back-yard  and  dropping  both  peelings  and 
pith  at  almost  every  step.  On  the  front  piazza  he 
found  Reba  Lawrence  with  his  wife  and  step 
daughter,  the  subject  of  their  conversation  being 
Miss  Black,  who  had  just  passed  on  horseback 
without  a  companion  or  attendant.  Whenever 
she  could  spare  a  few  hours  from  her  work,  the 
latter  was  known  to  hire  a  horse  and  take  long 
rides  on  the  country  roads  in  the  pursuit  of  health ; 
those  now  commenting  could  well  understand  that 

8 


H4  THE   SONS  OF  HAM. 

she  needed  the  exercise  and  the  fresh  air,  but  Mrs. 
Brown  thought  it  unsafe,  and  the  two  girls  agreed. 

"  Too  many  triflin'  darkies  hangin'  around  every 
where  now-a-days,"  the  former  was  saying,  as  her 
husband  appeared. 

"  Who  's  that  you  talkin'  about,  —  Miss  Francie 
Black?"  he  asked,  after  saluting  Reba.  "Oh, 
she 's  all  right.  Them  Yankee  women  know  how 
to  take  care  of  themselves." 

"  Adam,  don't  throw  them  peelin's  down  there 
in  the  yard,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Brown,  in  distress. 
"  I  jes'  had  it  swept  yesterday."  She  called  one  of 
her  children  from  within  and  sent  for  a  waste- 
basket. 

Owing  to  the  way  in  which  he  had  been  brought 
up  and  had  lived  during  the  greater  part  of  his 
life,  the  mayor  was  wholly  indifferent  to  litter,  and 
disorder  in  general,  never  seeming  to  see  it.  Not 
so  his  wife ;  during  her  engagement  to  George 
Walton,  and  after  their  marriage,  she  had  tried 
hard  to  make  herself  the  equal  of  his  sister,  and 
had  in  some  ways  succeeded.  Where  she  had 
failed  was  in  her  efforts  to  educate  herself,  though 
even  here  she  had  made  praiseworthy  advance- 
After  marrying  Adam  Brown,  however,  she  had 
gradually  relapsed  into  the  old  slip-shod  manner  of 
speech,  furnishing  a  constant  source  of  regret  to 
her  sister-in-law,  her  niece,  and  her  own  daughter, 
whose  educational  opportunities  had  far  surpassed 
her  own. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  115 

"  I  like  to  see  'em  come  —  them  Yankees,"  con 
tinued  the  mayor,  looking  after  the  disappearing 
horsewoman.  "  Colonel  Sanford  says  we  can 
never  count  on  thrifty  fureign  immigrants  as  long 
as  the  nigger  is  in  the  way,  and  we  want  all  the 
Yankees  we  can  get  to  help  us  develop  this 
country.  The  trouble  is  they  don't  want  to  butt 
agin  the  nigger  any  more  than  the  fureigner  does. 
Mighty  few  of  'em  come  South." 

He  generously  offered  each  of  the  ladies  a 
"  round "  of  cane  before  seating  himself  within 
range  of  the  waste-basket.  His  wife  was  knitting, 
and  the  two  girls  were  looking  through  a  magazine 
together ;  all  declined  the  proffered  sweet. 

"You  ain't  lookin'  well,  Reba,"  he  remarked, 
kindly.  "  You  stay  home  too  close." 

The  girl's  face  flushed  under  his  keen  glance 
and  she  answered  quickly  that  she  was  quite  well, 
wondering  if  he  could  detect  the  signs  of  slow 
starvation,  although  aware  that  she  was  less  thin 
than  a  few  weeks  before.  In  proportion  as  her 
mother's  appetite  failed,  Reba  had  eaten  more  and 
in  some  measure  improved. 

"  It 's  time  both  you  girls  was  gittin'  married," 
Adam  Brown  continued,  with  a  twinkle  of  the  eye. 
"  Reba,  I  hope  you  ain't  as  hard  to  please  as  Betty. 
She  won't  have  Jack  Sanford,  and  she  won't  have 
Jim  Jones.  A  man  would  have  to  be  cut  out  and 
moulded  in  gold  to  suit  Betty." 

"  Do,  papa  !  " 


n6  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  Jack  is  too  much  of  a  boy,  I  reckon,  but  you  '11 
go  a  long  ways  before  you'll  find  a  better  man 
than  Jim." 

"  You  ought  to  see  him  dance !  "  said  Betty, 
cruelly. 

"  It  always  seems  a  pity,"  the  mayor  proceeded, 
smiling,  "  for  a  girl  to  fool  along  till  she  's  old  and 
laid  on  the  shelf.  You  girls  ain't  ugly  enough  to 
be  old  maids.  How  old  are  you,  Reba?  " 

"  Now,  Adam,  that  ain't  polite,"  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Brown.  "  Young  ladies  ain't  supposed  to  have  no 
age." 

The  girls  laughed,  and  Reba,  with  a  slightly 
aggrieved  look,  mentioned  that  she  was  only 
twenty,  and  was  in  no  hurry  to  surrender  her  free 
dom.  The  man  who  could  persuade  her  to  give 
up  hers,  Betty  declared,  was  yet  to  appear  upon 
the  scene.  At  this  juncture  the  attention  of  all 
was  attracted  to  a  passing  vehicle  containing 
young  Morton  and  Jones,  who  lifted  their  hats  in 
honor  of  the  group  on  the  piazza.  They  were 
evidently  driving  out  of  town  on  the  same  road 
taken  by  Miss  Black. 

"  That  buggy-load  reminds  me  of  Bill  Arp's 
lecture  on  the  '  Cracker  and  the  Cavalier,' "  said 
Betty. 

"You  mean  Jim's  a  cracker,  eh?  Well,  we 're 
all  crackers  when  it  comes  to  that,  I  reckon,"  said 
the  mayor. 

"  Speak  for  yourself,  please,"  requested  Betty. 
"  My  father  was  not  a  cracker,  and  neither  am  I." 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  117 

"  Well,  anyhow  the  bottom  rail  is  on  top  now-a- 
days.  You  can  't  git  around  that." 

"  Mamma  says,"  put  in  Reba,  taking  Betty's  side, 
"  that  it  may  have  more  money,  but  it  can  never 
really  be-  on  top." 

"  Does  anybody  mean  to  tell  me  that  Jim  Jones 
with  all  he  's  got  ain't  as  good  as  that  po'  stuck-up 
Bob  Morton?  " 

"  He  ain't  stuck-up,  Adam.  I  never  heard  that," 
ventured  Mrs.  Brown.  "  And  they  say  he  's  a  fine 
young  man,  and  smart,  too." 

"  He  belongs  to  that  po'  stuck-up  crowd  any 
how,  and  he  ain't  got  nothin'." 

"  He  's  a  gentleman,  and  Jim  Jones  is  n't,"  de 
clared  Betty,  with  an  air  of  certainty  which  stag 
gered  the  mayor  in  spite  of  his  well-settled  opinions. 

The  expression  of  Reba's  eyes  showed  feeling, 
but  she  gladly  left  the  defence  to  her  cousin.  She 
told  herself  that  it  was  not  for  Morton's  sake 
that  she  felt  indignant;  the  "  stuck-up  crowd" 
meant  in  a  political  sense  the  intelligence  of  the 
community,  in  a  social  sense  the  old  families,  and 
her  mother  and  Betty's  dead  father  were  as  much 
or  more  included  in  the  mayor's  denunciation  than 
young  Morton  himself.  Mrs.  Brown  came  to  the 
rescue,  conscious  that  they  were  verging  upon 
dangerous  ground.  She  had  not  entirely  forgot 
ten  her  first  husband,  and  she  believed  in  the  old 
families,  but  she  also  believed  in  Adam  Brown. 
Her  policy  was  pacific  always,  and  she  hoped  in 


ii8  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

time  to  fully  reconcile  the  two  apparently  hetero 
geneous  elements  existing  in  her  own  family.  Her 
method  now  was  to  bestow  a  warning  look  upon 
Betty  and  begin  to  crowd  her  husband  with  ques 
tions  about  gardening.  So  was  he  diverted,  and 
the  girls,  left  to  themselves,  returned  to  their 
magazine. 

After  Miss  Black  rode  by,  bowing  to  the  ladies 
on  the  piazza,  the  same  question  which  they  began 
to  discuss  arose  in  her  own  mind,  —  was  it  safe  to 
take  those  lonely  rides  unattended?  She  was 
quick  to  answer  and  ride  on  into  the  country  in  a 
perfectly  tranquil  state  of  mind.  Yes,  it  was  safe, 
—  reasonably  so,  at  least.  Miss  Black  was  not 
timid,  and  the  idling,  rambling  negroes  whom  she 
sometimes  met  on  the  country  roads,  having  never 
molested  her,  failed  to  excite  her  apprehension. 
As  for  the  white  men,  it  seemed  to  her  that,  as  a 
class,  they  were  unusually  respectful  toward  all 
women.  Only  a  few  days  since  she  had  passed  an 
excited  crowd  in  Barcelona,  the  behavior  of  which 
excited  her  astonishment.  Two  men  were  in  the 
midst  of  an  angry  and  abusive  dispute,  and  the 
crowd  about  them  occupied  the  whole  sidewalk, 
awaiting  .with  intense  interest  the  coming  fight, 
which  promised  to  be  no  trifle.  As  Miss  Black 
paused  before  deciding  to  step  into  the  street  and 
cross  to  the  opposite  side,  the  whisper,  "  A  lady !  " 
suddenly  went  through  the  crowd,  and  instantly  it 
parted  and  rolled  back,  a  small  portion  flattening 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  119 

itself  neatly  against  the  wall,  while  the  bulk  precip 
itated  itself  into  the  street  as  from  the  volition  of 
one  man.  The  angry  voices  were  hushed,  and  the 
way  was  clear ;  the  lady  passed,  the  two  sections 
of  the  crowd  swayed  together  again,  and  the  inter 
rupted  wrangle  was  resumed.  Men  who  treated 
her  with  such  consideration  at  such  a  time  could 
do  her  no  harm  at  any  other;  so  Miss  Black 
reasoned. 

She  had  made  rather  a  late  start,  and  when  about 
a  mile  and  a  half  out  of  town  it  occurred  to  her 
that  she  ought  to  turn  back.  She  did  not,  how 
ever,  being  unable  to  resist  the  temptation  to  pro 
long  her  ride.  She  revelled  in  the  fine  October  air, 
the  delicious  odor  from  the  endless  forests  of  pine, 
the  autumn  color  of  sky  and  leaf, —  for  along  the 
water  courses  the  monotony  of  green  pines  was 
relieved  by  other  growth.  Pushing  on,  she  de 
scended  a  slope  which  led  downward  through  the 
dense  woods  bordering  what  is  locally  termed  a 
branch.  This,  however,  was  more  than  a  branch, 
being  in  reality  a  considerable  creek,  and  was 
known  as  Black  Swamp. 

As  she  rounded  a  bend  and  the  stream  came 
into  view,  Miss  Black  momentarily  glimpsed  the 
dark  figures  of  two  men  somewhere  between 
herself  and  the  flowing  water  Occupied  imme 
diately  with  the  stumbling  of  her  horse  she  did 
not  observe  these  two  figures  as  they  darted  into 
the  bush ;  and  when  she  again  looked  up,  the  de- 


120  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

serted  road  caused  her  to  wonder  if  she  had  seen 
aright  in  the  first  place,  meanwhile  continuing  to 
advance  without  apprehension. 

"  Jim  's  gone  to  law  about  some  land,  and  he 
give  the  case  to  Bob  Morton,"  the  mayor  had  re 
marked,  as  the  two  young  men  drove  past  his 
house,  and  it  was  this  business  which  was  taking 
them  into  the  country  this  afternoon.  As  they 
drove  on,  they  occasionally  observed  a  horse 
woman  far  in  advance  of  them,  but  the  windings 
of  the  road  for  the  most  part  screened  her  from 
their  view.  The  sand  was  too  heavy  for  fast  driv 
ing  and  before  a  great  while  they  lost  sight  of  her 
altogether.  As  they  neared  Black  Swamp,  how 
ever,  they  heard  a  faint  and  far  cry  which  imme 
diately  suggested  the  horsewoman.  It  was  a  cry 
of  distress,  and  evidently  a  woman's.  The  two 
young  men  looked  at  each  other  as  if  to  ask,  "  Did 
you  hear  that?  " 

"  A  lady !  "  said  Morton,  excitedly,  as  the  cry 
was  heard  again.  He  seized  the  whip  and  they 
dashed  down  the  slope  at  a  break-neck  speed. 

Perhaps  it  was  five  minutes  later,  perhaps  more, 
when  an  old  negro  living  on  a  small  farm  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Black  Swamp  was  made  aware 
that  something  unusual  had  just  taken  place.  He 
heard  no  pistol  shots,  for  the  two  young  men  who 
had  driven  down  the  slope  in  such  desperate  haste 
were  unarmed;  but,  as  he  was  emerging  from  the 
dense  woods  of  the  swamp  where  he  kept  a  par- 


THE  SOWS  OF  HAM.  121 

tridge  trap,  the  sound  of  some  one  running  through 
the  brush  behind  him  attracted  his  attention  and 
caused  him  to  halt.  He  observed  that  the  person 
who  ran  had  set  his  face  toward  Barcelona,  although 
it  was  clearly  his  intention  to  keep  to  the  woods  and 
avoid  the  road ;  he  also  observed  that  this  person, 
whose  face  was  black  but  too  far  away  to  be  recog 
nized,  literally  tore  through  the  woods,  regardless 
of  the  low,  overhanging  branches  which  whipped 
him  as  he  passed,  and  the  lightwood-knots  or  fallen 
logs,  unseen  in  the  brush,  which  bruised  his  feet  and 
barred  his  way.  Clearly  he  was  a  fugitive  and  be 
lieved  that  his  life  depended  on  his  speed. 

The  old  negro,  commonly  known  in  the  neigh- 
borhoood  as  "  Mingo  "  or  "  Uncle  Mingo  "  (no  one 
ever  heard  mention  of  his  surname,  if  indeed  he  had 
one)  made  these  observations  in  silence,  then  pro 
ceeded  on  his  way,  soon  arriving  in  the  neighbor 
hood  of  the  road.  Here  he  halted  and  looked  forth 
cautiously  before  exposing  himself,  the  glimpse  of 
a  terrified  fugitive  having  awakened  vague  fears  for 
his  own  safety.  Surveying  the  lonely  road,  he  saw 
that  it  was  deserted  at  every  point  save  one,  about 
fifty  yards  distant,  where  stood  an  abandoned  horse 
and  buggy.  Before  he  had  time  to  speculate  as  to 
the  whereabouts  of  the  driver,  a  young  white  man 
ran  out  of  the  woods,  and,  having  possessed  himself 
of  a  piece  of  rope  from  the  bottom  of  the  vehicle, 
hastily  returned  the  way  he  had  come. 

Old  Mingo  then  heard  indistinct  voices,  and  knew 


122  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

well  that  a  serious  event  had  occurred,  but  did  not 
budge  from  his  place.  After  waiting  but  a  very 
short  time,  he  saw  the  same  man  reappear,  accom 
panied  by  another,  the  two  bearing  a  heavy  burden 
between  them.  What  this  burden  was  he  did  not  at 
first  quite  discern,  but,  as  they  lifted  it  and  placed  it 
on  the  floor  of  the  buggy,  he  saw  that  it  was  a  man, 
a  negro,  apparently  senseless  and  bound  hand  and 
foot  with  ropes.  One  of  the  men  sprang  immedi 
ately  into  the  vehicle,  gathered  up  the  reins,  and 
drove  off  slowly,  the  other  man  following  a  short 
distance  on  foot  in  order  to  give  a  few  parting  in 
structions,  as  it  seemed. 

"  I  'm  glad  it  will  soon  be  dark,"  he  was  saying, 
as  they  drew  near.  "  You  can  get  to  the  jail  with 
out  attracting  a  crowd.  Just  get  Dave  Hardy  to 
lock  him  up,  Jim,  and  don't  say  a  word  to  a  soul. 
We  must  keep  it  quiet  for  her  sake." 

They  were  now  very  near,  and  old  Mingo,  ere 
he  drew  back  among  the  bushes,  took  note  that  the 
inert  body  on  the  floor  of  the  buggy  had  begun  to 
move  and  groan. 

"  The  black  devil 's  comin'  to,"  remarked  the 
man  who  drove.  "  He  's  bleedin'  like  a  hog.  You 
hit  him  a  powerful  lick  with  that  light'ood  knot." 

"  I  meant  to  kill  him,"  said  the  other,  with  eyes 
of  fire,  "  when  I  saw  him  trying  to  pull  her  off  her 
horse;  but  after  I  knocked  him  senseless  I  had 
enough  of  it." 

"  I  tell  you  what,  she  had  spunk,"  declared  the 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  123 

man  in  the  buggy.  "  The  way  she  spurred  that 
horse  and  made  him  jump  !  " 

At  this  juncture  the  man  afoot  halted  and  turned 
back.  "  Now  I  must  see  that  she  gets  home,"  he 
said,  reflectively.  "  Jim,  I  suppose  I  'd  better  go 
all  the  way  with  her — don't  you  think  so?  She 
might  faint  again,  you  know,"  he  added,  in  a 
troubled,  perplexed  way. 

The  other  called  out  "  Yes,"  adding  in  a  lower 
voice  as  he  drove  on,  "  I  'm  glad  the  job  don't  fall 
to  me."  And  so  they  separated. 

About  five  minutes  later,  having  meanwhile  has 
tened  to  plant  his  feet  upon  his  own  domain  which 
was  not  far  away,  old  Mingo,  who  now  more  than 
vaguely  comprehended  what  had  occurred,  saw  a 
white  woman  pass  on  horseback  along  the  road  to 
Barcelona  accompanied  by  a  man  afoot. 

Meanwhile  the  fleet-footed  fugitive  made  good 
his  escape,  having  taken  the  alarm  and  bounded 
away  before  his  presence  was  even  suspected  by 
the  rescuers.  Luckily  for  him  the  unbroken  woods 
continued  to  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  and  he  was 
thus  able  to  run  at  his  best  pace  and  attract  no 
attention.  Making  a  wide  detour,  he  entered  Bar 
celona  by  another,  far  distant  road,  and  hastened 
to  compose  his  features,  cease  his  quick  breaths, 
and  show  himself  conspicuously  on  the  principal 
street  as  well  as  in  the  restaurants  and  other  haunts 
of  the  blacks,  thus  making  his  alibi  secure.  Long 
before  Jim  Jones  drove  into  town  with  his  prisoner 


124  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

all  this  had  been  accomplished,  and  the  fugitive 
was  on  the  lookout  for  his  arrival,  idling  carelessly 
at  a  corner  and  covertly  scanning  every  vehicle  on 
the  street  which  came  in  from  the  Black  Swamp 
road.  When  at  last  the  one  he  watched  for  ap 
peared  and  quietly  turned  toward  the  jail,  he 
boldly  stepped  forward  and  inquired  if  Mr.  Jones 
wanted  any  more  cotton  pickers  on  his  place. 

"  Who  's  that,  —  Mamie-Lou  John?  "  was  the  re 
sponse,  without  drawing  rein.  "  I  thought  you 
was  too  stuck-up  to  pick  cotton.  You  can  see  me 
'bout  it  to-morrow."  The  vehicle  was  then  driven 
rapidly  on,  and  the  crafty  fugitive  turned  away  well 
satisfied  with  his  chances  of  escaping  the  halter. 

It  was  quite  dark  and  a  whippoorwill  was  calling 
cheerfully  in  a  neighboring  dell  when  the  horse 
woman  and  her  attendant  halted  where  two  ways 
met  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  Little  had 
passed  between  them  by  the  way,  and  that  little 
referring  in  no  way  to  what  had  occurred.  Never 
once  did  he  look  directly  at  her,  -and,  aware  of  this, 
she  by  and  by  looked  at  him  freely  and  often,  —  too 
often,  she  told  herself  afterward.  His  tall,  sinewy 
form,  his  thin,  sallow  face  and  firm  jaw,  his  eyes  of 
fire,  above  all,  the  atmosphere  about  him  of  true 
manliness  and  of  genuine  and  simple  devotion  to 
the  woman  in  his  care,  combined  to  form  a  picture 
which  would  perhaps  haunt  her  memory  with  a 
lasting  and  dangerous  persistence. 

"  I  '11  turn  off  here,"  he  said,  halting,  conscious 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  125 

that  they  would  attract  attention  if  they  thus  en 
tered  the  town.  "I  think  you  are  all  right  now 
and  can  go  on  alone." 

She  assented,  then  leaned  forward  and  put  out 
her  hand  to  him  in  the  darkness.  As  he  took  it 
and  they  said  good-night,  she  was  quickly  con 
scious  that  his  hand  was  very  cold.  "  Mr.  Morton," 
she  began  abruptly,  in  a  very  low  voice,  "a  second 
time  —  I  owe  to  your  —  to  you  —  everything  —  " 
She  seemed  unable  to  proceed. 

"  I  must  hurry,"  he  hastened  to  say,  with  an 
embarrassed  manner.  "  I  am  going  to  have  a 
chill." 

"  I  am  so  sorry,"  she  murmured,  still  halting. 
He  moved  on  then  with  another  "  good-night,"  and 
thus  they  separated. 

This,  however,  was  no  subterfuge  on  his  part,  al 
though  he  distinctly  aimed  to  cut  short  her  labored 
and  difficult  words  of  gratitude.  Had  they  remained 
in  each  other's  company  five  minutes  longer  she 
would  have  heard  his  teeth  chatter.  It  was  not  his 
fated  day  for  a  chill,  but  he  had  got  his  feet  wet 
and  the  cool  night  air  did  the  rest.  It  had  been 
his  intention  to  stop  at  the  jail  and  reiterate  his 
wish  that  "the  thing"  be  kept  quiet,  but,  bent  over 
and  shivering  as  he  was,  he  found  it  necessary  to 
go  directly  home  and  put  himself  to  bed. 

As  late  as  half-past  eleven  o'clock  that  evening 
a  light  still  burned  in  Robert  Morton's  room.  The 
chill  had  left  him  two  hours  since,  and  his  mother 


126  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

had  removed  the  heavy  pile  of  blankets  beneath 
which  he  lay  quaking  so  long,  bidding  him  good 
night  and  expecting  him  soon  to  be  asleep.  But 
he  was  still  awake  at  half-past  eleven,  when  a  light 
tapping  on  one  of  his  windows  opening  on  the 
front  piazza  attracted  his  attention. 

"  Who's  that?  "he  called. 

"Jim  Jones." 

"  Push  up  the  sash  and  come  in,"  Morton  di 
rected  from  the  bed,  and  a  moment  later  one  of 
Jones's  long  legs  was  thrust  over  the  low  window- 
sill.  "  Put  the  sash  all  the  way  down ;  I  'm  all  in 
a  sweat,"  Morton  added. 

"  This  is  a  funny  time  o'  night  for  me  to  be 
comin',"  apologized  Jones,  crossing  to  the  bed  and 
seating  himself;  "  but  I  thought  I  'd  stop  and  tell 
you  all  about  it." 

"  I  'm  glad  to  see  you." 

"  When  I  come  back  to  town  with  the  boys  jes' 
now  I  saw  yo'  light  and  I  thought  you  was  still 
awake.  Dick  Marshall  said  the  light  was  in  your 
room,  and  so  I  stopped." 

"  Well,  what  have  you  to  tell  me?  " 

"  Well,  I  told  Dave  Hardy  jes'  what  you  told  me 
when  I  turned  the  nigger  over  to  him,  and  he  said, 
'  All  right.'  He  give  out  the  report  that  the  nigger 
was  caught  robbin'  a  white  lady  on  the  big  road ; 
but  after  supper  I  went  around  and  told  a  few  of 
the  boys  jes'  how  it  was,  but  that  you  and  me  had 
decided  to  keep  the  name  of  the  lady  back,  and  I 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  127 

did  n't  tell  'em  who  she  was.  Them  boys  was  jes* 
rip-snortin',  every  one  of  'em,-  especially  after  I 
told  'em  it  was  Cicero  Witherspoon,  and  they  'lowed 
they  'd  lynch  him  or  raise  hell.  They  jes'  reared. 
I  'd  had  enough  of  it  a'ready,  but  nothin'  would 
do  but  I  must  go  with  'em  and  show  'em  the  place. 
So  about  a  dozen  of  us  went  down  to  the  jail  with 
out  raisin'  no  row,  and  told  Dave  Hardy  he  mought 
jes'  as  well  hush  up  his  talk  to  begin  with,  for  it 
wan't  no  use.  He  didn't  care  nohow, —  he  was  in 
with  us  from  the  start ;  but  of  course  he  made  a 
stand  jes'  for  show  tell  the  boys  drawd  their  pistols 
on  him,  and  then  he  give  the  nigger  right  up.  Well, 
we  took  him  out  in  a  spring  wagon  and  the  boys 
swung  him  up  over  the  very  spot.  Sam  Thomas 
and  most  of  'em  took  a  pop  at  him  before  he 
stopped  kickin',  but  I  could  n't.  Look  like  to  me 
hangin*  was  enough.  The  boys  held  a  torch  and 
Sam  wrote  a  notice  in  a  disguised  hand  and  pinned 
it  on  the  nigger's  coat.  He  begged  pitiful.  It  was 
hard  to  stand.  And,  look-a-h-yer,  Bob,  that  Cicero, 
after  he  confessed  it  all,  had  the  face  to  swear  that 
Mamie-Lou  John  was  with  him  and  got  off  in  the 
bushes  just  in  time  for  me  and  you  not  to  see  him. 
Of  course  I  told  him  he  was  a  brazen  liar,  and  —  " 
"But  how  do  we  know?"  interrupted  Morton, 
musingly.  "  It  may  be  true.  It  seemed  rather 
strange  to  me  that  he  should  have  made  the 
attempt  alone,  she  being  on  horseback." 
-  "  But  I  saw  Mamie-Lou  John  myself  jes'  as  I 


128  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

drove  in  town  ;  he  tried  to  hire  to  me  to  pick 
cotton.  And  some  of  the  boys  said  they  seen  him 
hangin'  round  town  all  the  eveninV l 

"  Oh,  well,  then." 

"  I  reckon  Colonel  Sanford  will  rear  when  he 
hears  about  it  to-morrow,"  said  Jones,  at  the  con 
clusion  of  his  brief  outline  of  the  dark  tragedy. 

"  Yes,"  rejoined  Morton,  gloomily,  "  and  I  tell 
you  it  is  a  bad  business,  Jim,  though  it  does  seem 
to  be  the  only  way  to  check  it." 

1  Afternoon. 


IX. 


COLONEL  SANFORD  did  not  "  rear,"  as  was  pre 
dicted,  but  expressed  himself  freely  and  in  forcible 
language  as  he  stood  in  conversation  with  his 
neighbors  on  the  street  the  next  day.  He  charac 
terized  lynch-law  as  a  relic  of  barbarous  times,  and 
deplored  its  brutalizing  influence  upon  the  youth 
of  his  community  and  country.  He  said  that 
lynchers  were  no  doubt  actuated  by  a  desire  to 
see  justice  meted  out  to  criminals,  but  at  the 
same  time  they  were  largely  dominated  by  race 
hatred  and,  in  the  case  of  young  men  especially, 
by  a  love  of  wild  excitement  which  some  would 
miscall  "  fun,"  flocking  to  the  scene  of  a  lynching 
in  the  sway  of  similar  emotions  to  those  experi 
enced  by  the  spectators  of  an  ancient  gladiatorial 
contest  or  a  modern  bull-fight.  He  declared  that 
lynch-law  could  be  called  justifiable  only  where 
the  courts  were  notoriously  weak  and  corrupt, 
refusing  to  visit  a  just  punishment  upon  the  guilty, 
and  such  a  condition  of  things  was  happily  rare  at 
the  present  day.  The  white  race  had  everywhere 

9 


1 30  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

the  upper  hand,  and  there  was  no  possible  escape 
for  a  negro  criminal  justly  convicted.  Would  any 
body  contend  that  Cicero  Witherspoon  could  have 
escaped  punishment  had  he  been  allowed  to  stand 
his  trial  for  robbery?  He  would  have  escaped  the 
halter,  indeed,  but  would  have  been  punished  to 
the  full  extent  of  the  law. 

However,  when  a  better-informed  bystander 
asserted  that  robbery  was  the  mere  incidental  of 
the  blackest  of  crimes  —  happily  prevented  —  the 
Colonel's  argument  halted.  The  better  class  of 
Southern  men  condemn  the  lynching  of  the  blacks 
in  the  case  of  all  crimes  but  one.  Although  the 
name  of  the  rescued  was  determinedly  withheld, 
the  real  nature  of  the  attempted  crime  became 
generally  known  in  the  course  of  the  morning,  not, 
however,  before  a  flaming  account  of  the  affair  as 
first  reported  was  sent  over  the  wires  to  the  news 
papers. 

There  is  a  class  of  people  everywhere  who  dis 
cover  an  unaccountable  pleasure  in  looking  at 
dead  bodies,  whether  calmly  at  rest  in  the  course 
of  nature,  mangled  through  terrifying  accident, 
slain  in  battle,  or  hanged  on  the  gallows.  From 
an  early  hour  of  the  morning  until  night  the  peo 
ple  of  this  kind,  both  white  and  black,  might  have 
been  seen  going  and  returning  on  the  road  to 
Black  Swamp.  Even  some  of  the  most  respectable 
could  not  rest  satisfied  until  they  had  imprinted 
the  hideous  picture  on  their  memories,  ostensibly 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  131 

going  out  to  drive,  but  failing  not  to  halt  at  Black 
Swamp  and  look  long  upon  the  lifeless  thing  which 
hung  there,  with  the  solemn  warning  pinned  across 
its  breast  :  "This  is  the  way  we  protect  our  wives 
and  daughters" 

Josephine  received  the  news  at  first  with  incredu 
lity,  and  then  with  tears  and  loud  lamentations. 
Although  she  had  cast  Cicero  off  utterly  and  re 
garded  him  as  nothing  to  her  henceforth,  although 
her  early  affection  for  him  had  withered  and  died 
out  completely,  her  love  seemed  now  to  come  to  life 
and  flourish  again,  —  now  that  he  was  de'ad  and  gone 
forever.  His  crime  did  not  engage  her  reflections; 
in  the  tumult  of  her  grief  she  was  conscious  only 
that  the  father  of  her  last  children  had  been  cruelly 
put  to  death.  The  Neck  resounded  with  her  cries, 
her  distress  increasing  as  she  recalled  the  recent 
attempt  to  "  bad-mouth  "  or  bewitch  her,  and  recog 
nized  the  present  calamity  as  a  most  probable  result 
of  the  evil  charm. 

Later  in  the  day  she  went  into  town  and  walked 
through  the  streets  with  streaming  eyes,  calling 
upon  the  mayor  in  his  office.  She  did  not  beseech 
or  demand  the  arrest  of  the  lynchers,  — would 
scarcely  have  done  so,  in  fact,  if  their  names  had 
been  known ;  she  merely  asked  permission  to  take 
down  and  bury  her  dead,  proposing  to  go  out  to 
Black  Swamp  with  a  few  of  her  friends  in  a  wagon. 
Adam  Brown  was  greatly  perplexed  by  this  re 
quest.  He  was  well  aware  that  the  authorities 


132  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

could  not  act  in  the  matter,  they  being  on  the  side 
of  law  and  order,  unless  they  should  act  against  the 
lynchers ;  but  that  they  did  not  intend  to  do,  and 
therefore  they  were  supposed  to  know  nothing  of 
what  had  occurred. 

"  H-yer  you  come  a-botherin'  me  again,"  he 
complained,  greatly  annoyed  ;  but  a  happy  thought 
struck  him  and  his  face  cleared.  "  I  ain't  got  noth- 
in'  to  do  with  it,"  he  declared.  "  It 's  outside  o' 
town,  outside  o'  the  corporate  limits,  and  out 
side  o'  my  jurisdiction.  It 's  the  sheriffs  business, 
the  Malvern  County  sheriff,  and  the  curoner's. 
They  tell  me  the  curoner  left  town  soon  this  morn- 
in'  before  he  heard  of  it.  It 's  his  business  to  take 
the  body  down  and  hold  a  inquest.  I  ain't  the 
one  to  see ;  go  see  the  sheriff.  But  if  I  was  you, 
Josephine,  I  'd  let  the  body  stay  there  tell  to  morrow, 
anyhow.  Feelin'  runs  mighty  high,  and  somebody 
might  stop  you.  People  want  it  to  hang  there  all 
day  as  a  warnin',  you  know." 

The  mayor  spoke  kindly  enough,  but  Josephine 
saw  at  once  that  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to  act, 
and  so  she  withdrew,  wiping  her  swollen  eyes.  She 
at  once  sought  the  sheriff,  and  being  unable  to  find 
him,  returned  home,  her  grief  in  a  measure  as 
suaged  by  certain  thoughts  which  crowded  upon 
her.  She  was  now  free  to  marry  another  and  better 
husband,  —  one,  in  fact,  already  selected;  and  her 
distasteful  bargain  with  Sam  Thomas,  which  indeed 
saved  to  her  the  fifteen-dollar  divorce  fee,  but  was 


THE  SOAS   OF  HAM.  133 

likely  to  get  her  into  trouble,  could  be  repudiated 
forthwith.  Josephine  was  comforted  also  by  the 
reflection  that  the  complete  and  public  disruption 
of  all  relations  with  Cicero  had  occurred  several 
weeks  since,  and  that  her  neighbors  would  not 
necessarily  expect  her  now  to  assert  herself  as  his 
wife.  In  reality  she  cared  for  him  no  longer,  and 
was  only  moved  by  compassion  and  the  recollec 
tion  of  earlier  days. 

Very  different  was  Rosetta's  state  of  mind.  Her 
love  for  Cicero  was  the  uppermost  passion  of  her 
nature,  and  in  order  to  win  him  for  herself  alone 
she  had  already  gone  far  beyond  the  utmost  which 
a  more  timid  character  would  have  dared.  The 
news  of  his  fate  overwhelmed  her  with  a  grief 
which  was  rendered  the  more  bitter  by  remorse, 
by  the  fear  that  the  misfortune  which  she  had  at 
tempted  to  bring  upon  Josephine  had  fallen  upon 
Cicero,  thus  indirectly  upon  herself.  After  the 
first  paroxysm  she  did  not  shed  tears  and  loudly 
lament  after  the  fashion  of  Josephine,  but  wandered 
about  the  streets  with  dry  eyes,  compressed  lips, 
and  an  absent  manner.  She  stood  and  listened  to 
what  each  talker  had  to  say  on  the  steps  of  the 
restaurants,  in  the  alleys,  or  other  haunts  of  the 
blacks, —  the  fearful  murmurs  of  the  old  women,  the 
wild  threats  of  the  young  men,  the  moderation  of 
their  elders,  —  but  said  nothing  herself,  only  heark 
ening  and  looking  from  side  to  side  with  the  man 
ner  of  one  struck  dumb. 


I34  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

She  knew  of  Josephine's  intention  to  go  out  and 
take  the  body  down,  and  not  until  after  nightfall 
did  she  learn  that  the  former's  plan  had  not  been 
carried  out.  Not  till  then  was  Rosetta  aroused 
from  her  waking-trance.  She  swore  that  the  body 
should  be  taken  down  that  night,  and  immediately 
set  about  accomplishing  the  task ;  she  made  propo 
sitions  to  one  man  after  another  among  her  ac 
quaintances,  trying  first  persuasion  and  then  offering 
payment  far  beyond  her  means  to  such  as  would 
agree  to  go  out  with  her  to  Black  Swamp  in  a 
wagon.  But  not  one  of  them  could  be  induced  to 
go,  their  disrelish  for  the  undertaking  arising  not 
so  much  from  the  fear  of  hindrance  and  possible 
bodily  harm  as  a  superstitious  dread  of  encounter 
ing  the  dead  body  in  the  dark.  While  soliciting 
the  aid  of  these  several  persons,  Rosetta  was  con 
tinually  on  the  lookout  for  Mamie-Lou  John,  who 
was  Cicero's  friend  as  well  as  her  own,  and  who 
might  therefore  muster  up  courage  to  render  the 
assistance  which  she  so  much  desired. 

It  was  as  late  as  nine  o'clock  when  she  sought 
him  at  the  house  of  Parson  Smith,  in  the  Neck, 
whither  she  had  been  directed.  There,  in  conver 
sation  with  the  schoolmaster  and  the  parson,  she 
found  him,  distinguished  by  scarcely  the  air  of  one 
equally  guilty  and  narrowly  escaping  the  fate  of 
Cicero.  They  sat  before  an  open  fire  which  was 
the  only  light  in  the  room.  As  the  evening  was 
only  slightly  cool,  the  door  stood  wide,  and  Rosetta 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  135 

opened  the  gate,  walked  forward,  and  looked  in, 
without  being  observed.  After  a  few  moments  of 
hesitation  she  sat  down  on  the  steps  and  waited 
quietly.  She  was  afraid  of  the  parson  and  of  the 
schoolmaster ;  besides,  she  was  weary,  and  it  might 
be  that  Mamie-Lou  would  get  up  and  come  out 
presently. 

"  I  '11  pay  'em  for  hangin'  Cicero  yit,"  the  man 
she  sought  was  saying,  angrily.  "  You  jes'  wait 
tell -I  git  a  good  chance  —  jes'  watch  me  !  " 

"  Oh,  shet  up  that,"  said  the  portly  parson,  in 
reproof.  "You  better  behave  yourse'f  ef  you 
know  what  good  for  you.  You  better  take  warnin' 
by  Cicero  and  go  to  work.  Hangin'  round  doin' 
nothin'  what  got  him  into  trouble.  Idleness  is  the 
devil's  workshop,  you  see  it  so." 

"  Ef  I  could  clerk  in  a  sto',"  said  the  young  out 
law,  slightly  impressed,  "  I  would  go  to  work,  but  I 
ain't  goin'  to  plough  nor  pick  cotton  for  nobody." 

"  That's  where  the  trouble  comes  in,"  remarked 
the  schoolmaster,  who  unmistakably  had  the  most 
intelligent  face  of  the  three.  "Soon's  ever  our 
young  men  git  a  little  education  they  think  manual 
labor  is  too  low-down  for  'em,  and  there  ain't 
nothin'  else  hardly  for  'em  to  do.  Some  few  of  us 
kin  be  teachers  and  some  few  kin  be  preachers, 
among  our  own  color,  but  the  rest  got  to  pick 
cotton,  plough,  or  loaf.  The  white  man  owns  nearly 
everything,  all  the  stores  and  the  mills  and  the 
farms,  and  he  controls  all  the  government  offices, 


136  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

and  of  course  he  ruther  have  white  men  to  fill  all 
the  places  and  do  all  the  work  except  ploughin' 
and  hoein'  and  sich  as  that.  It 's  mighty  hard  for 
us,  but  we  can't  blame  them,  'cause  you  know  this 
is  a  white  man's  country.  If  it  was  a  black  man's 
we-all  'ud  do  the  same  thing.  Co'se  we  would. 
They  do  it  in  Hayti.  I  was  readin'  only  the  other 
day  about  how  black  dukes  and  markerses  and  all 
sich  big  dogs  ride  over  white  men  in  the  streets 
there  jes'  like  they  owned  'em.1  They  ain't  bound 
to  recognize  a  white  man's  rights  there,  and  they 
don't  do  it  neither." 

"Whay  is  dat  Hayti,  'Fesser  Brice?  Dat 's  the 
place  for  me ! "  exclaimed  Mamie-Lou,  with 
enthusiasm. 

"  A  white  man  don't  count  for  nothin'  in  Liberia 
neither,"  continued  the  professor,  ignoring  the 
interruption.  "  The  two  races  nat  'ally  ain't  got 
no  use  for  one  'n  other,  that 's  what  's  the  matter,  — 
'  race  antipathy '  Colonel  Sanford  calls  it  We  show 
it  jes'  as  much  as  dey  do  when  we  git  the  upper 
hand.  We  was  n't  made  to  live  together  in  one 
country  nohow,  and  we  can't  do  it  and  have  peace. 
The  only  chance  for  our  people  to  prosper  is  to 
colonize  off  to  ourselves  somewheres." 

"  Don't  you  think  we  could  git  along  all  right 
with  the  Northern  white  folks,  Brother  Brice?" 
asked  the  parson. 

1  He  had  read  an  extract  from  James  Anthony  Froudc's 
"  English  in  the  West  Indies." 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  137 

"  I  useter  think  so,  but  I  don't  no  longer." 

"  They  sot  us  free,  you  know." 

"  They  sot  us  free  and  turned  us  loose,  a  lot  o' 
miser'ble  paupers.  They  forgot  the  forty  acres 
and  a  mule  they  promised  us.  They  bit  off  mo  'n 
they  could  chaw,  as  the  feller  says,  and  they 
dropped  us.  But  I  ain't  a  complainin' ;  I  '11  always 
be  mighty  thankful  to  'em  for  settin'  us  free, 
though  if  I  read  hist'ry  right  that  was  a  sort  o' 
accident.  Lots  and  cords  of  'em  wanted  to  see  us 
free,  —  no  doubt  about  that ;  but  what  they  was 
fightin'  was  secession,  and  their  government  de 
clared  us  free  jes'  to  weaken  the  enemy,  looks 
like  to  me.  Of  co'se  the  Southern  folks  didn't 
want  us  free  'cause  they  had  all  their  money  in  us 
near  'bout,  and  they  was  afraid  to  see  their  country 
divided  with  a  free  people  of  a  different  race. 
And  they  was  right  to  be  'fraid,  too,  and  now  they 
got  the  bag  to  hold,  while  the  Northern  people  is 
way  off  yonder  and  don't  suffer.  Me  and  Colonel 
Sanford  has  stood  on  the  street  and  talked  it  over 
heap  o'  times,  and  we  agree  that  two  races  in  one 
country  is  bad  for  both." 

"  But  de  Northern  folks  don't  despise  us  like  de 
Southern  folks,  do  they?"  asked  the  parson,  not 
quite  convinced. 

"  I  useter  think  they  did  n't,"  was  the  answer, 
with  a  smile,  "  but  I  'm  findin'  out  better  all  the 
time.  The  Northerners  don't  have  half  the  aggra 
vation.  Down  h-yuh  nearly  half  the  population 


138  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

is  black,  but  up  there  the  colored  people  is  mighty 
few  and  scatterin' ;  and  yit  them  few  know  mighty 
well  what  race  prejudice  is.  I  tell  you,  the  color 
line  is  everywhere.  That 's  what  '  The  Freeman  ' 
says,. —  the  paper  I  take;  you  seen  it,  Brother 
Smith.  Only  a  little  while  back  I  read  about  how 
the  white  people  in  Felicity,  Ohio,  kept  colored 
children  out  of  the  schools  by  force,  beat  their 
parents  and  destroyed  their  property  in  some  cases. 
They  defied  the  law  and  was  not  punished.  They 
did  the  same  thing  in  Oxford,  Ohio.  Seventy-five 
leading  citizens  banded  together,  not  to  protect 
themselves  against  the  vote  and  rule  of  the  negro, 
but  to  prevent  his  children  from  gettin'  a  educa 
tion.  There  was  almost  a  riot  in  Marion,  111., 
because  a  tobacco  house  imported  some  colored 
men  to  work  in  their  factory.  I  Ve  heard  of  some 
such  outrage  in  almost  every  Northern  State. 
Colonel  Sanford  showed  me  a  piece  in  the  '  New 
York  Herald '  that  said  that  the  prejudice  was 
stronger  in  the  North  than  in  the  South,  and  yit 
they  don't  have  one-tenth  the  friction  and  aggrava 
tion  up  there.  They  can't  have.  That's  what 
makes  me  stop  and  think.  No-sir-ee !  No  use 
lookin'  to  the  North.  It 's  a  case  of  white  against 
black  in  this  country,  North  or  South." 

The  parson  sighed  and  Mamie-Lou  John  swore. 

"  I  wish  we  could  have  a  waw  of  black  against 
white,"  the  latter  declared,  fiercely. 

"We'd  be  the  under  dog  in  the  fight  shore's 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  139 

you  born,  and  we  'd  be  fools  to  try  it,"  declared 
the  schoolmaster  in  rejoinder.  "  We  ain't  got 
organization  nor  nothin'  yet.  We  can't  have  our 
rights  tell  we  git  stronger." 

"  They  tell  me  we  increase  faster  'n  the  white 
folks,"  remarked  the  preacher,  more  hopefully. 
"  It 's  so,  too ;  I  kin  see  it  right  yuh  in  Barcelona." 

"  Yes,  that 's  so,"  assented  the  professor,  "  but 
my  hopes  is  in  colonization.  We  can't  cope  with 
the  white  man;  that's  the  way  it  looks  to  me. 
We  '11  have  to  go  away  to  ourselves.  I  propose 
we  discuss  the  Liberia  question  at  the  first  meetin' 
of  our  debatin'  society." 

Rosetta  had  begun  to  lose  patience  long  ere 
this.  She  now  rose,  walked  to  the  gate,  placed 
herself  outside  of  it,  and  called  Mamie-Lou  John's 
name  loudly.  In  a  few  moments  he  appeared  at 
the  door,  and,  recognizing  her  voice,  came  out  to 
her.  She  told  him  why  she  was  there,  and  urged 
him  to  accompany  her,  but  he  promptly  refused. 

"  I  '11  git  a  wagon  and  go  out  dere  wid  you  by 
daylight  in  de  mornin',"  he  said,  "but  I  can't  go 
to-night.  I  f-yeared  to  go  to-night,  Rosy." 

"  Do  —  please  —  come,  go,  Mamie-Lou,"  she  im 
plored,  catching  hold  of  him  across  the  fence. 
"  I'll  do  anything  for  you  efyou'll  go." 

"  I  can't,  I  tell  you.  Great  Scott !  Cicero  might 
come  to  and  grab  me.  No-suh-ree  !  " 

Rosetta  saw  that  further  persuasion  would  be 
useless,  and  after  reproaching  him  bitterly,  she 


HO  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

turned  away,  leaving  him  to  return  to  the  discus 
sion  going  on  within.  The  girl  walked  straight 
through  the  town  and  out  toward  the  Black  Swamp 
road,  vowing  to  accomplish  the  task  alone,  although 
she  felt  that  her  courage  was  failing  steadily.  It 
was  not  the  lonely  walk,  but  the  thought  of  the 
dead  body  that  affrighted  her.  Her  father  having 
formerly  lived  on  a  small  farm  out  of  town,  she  had 
often  walked  a  lonely  country  road  at  night  alone, 
minding  it  little. 

The  negro  is  a  puzzling  creature.  In  many 
respects  he  enjoys  a  livelier  imagination  than  the 
white  man ;  he  cherishes  a  far  more  absolute  belief 
in  the  existence  of  spirits,  and  the  reality  and  near 
ness  of  the  world  which  they  inhabit.  Particularly 
at  night  does  this  spirit  world  seem  to  draw  near 
and  reveal  to  him  its  secrets.  To  his  imagination 
the  shadowy  woodlands  are  full  of  the  arisen  dead. 
Should  he  walk  a  lonely  way  in  the  moonlight  and 
see  a  rabbit  run  across  his  path,  he  thinks  he  should 
be  careful,  —  that  is  a  spirit.  Should  he,  in  similar 
surroundings,  feel  the  touch  of  a  warm  breath  on 
the  back  of  his  neck,  again  he  recognizes  the  pres 
ence  of  a  spirit.  The  soft  murmur  of  the  forest 
when  the  wind  does  not  blow,  is  the  whisper  of 
spirits.  Should  he  walk  in  the  neighborhood  of  a 
swamp  and  see  a  floating  light  (the  ignis  fatuus, 
called  the  Jack-o'-lantern),  he  thinks  he  should  run 
home  as  fast  as  he  can,  for  that  is  a  spirit  or  demon 
"  hot  from  hell."  Woe  to  him  if  he  attempt  an 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  141 

investigation ;  a  horseman  once  did  so,  and  the 
terrible  being  turned  upon  him  in  wrath,  con 
suming  both  him  and  his  horse  in  its  flames.  And 
yet  the  average  negro  seems  to  experience  less 
dread  of  unseen  dangers  on  a  lonely  night  walk 
through  the  woods  than  the  average  white. 

Rosetta  was  not  obliged  to  go  alone,  however, 
and  none  of  these  fancies  engaged  her  imagination. 
On  the  outskirts  of  the  town  she  encountered  a 
young  country  darkey  going  home  on  a  mule, 
recognized  her  opportunity,  and  seized  it.  The 
fact  that  he  was  in  a  semi-tipsy  condition  was  made 
apparent  through  his  loud  soliloquies  and  occa 
sional  exultant  shouts.  Rosetta  promptly  hailed 
this  "  country  Jake,"  as  she  mentally  styled  him, 
and  engaged  him  in  conversation. 

"  Come,  go  wid  me  out  dis  road  a  piece,"  she 
proposed  to  the  astonished  negro,  as  soon  as  there 
had  been  some  exchange  of  compliments. 

"Out  dat  road?     Wut  fur?" 

"  I  '11  tell  you  bimeby.  You  come  go  wid  me 
an'  do  wut  I  tell  you,  I  '11  gie  you  a  dollar,"  she 
promised  recklessly,  although  she  had  not  a  cent 
at  the  present  time. 

The  "  country  Jake  "  was  tipsy,  he  liked  the  sound 
of  Rosetta's  voice,  he  liked  still  more  the  promise 
of  a  fee,  and  so  he  allowed  himself  to  be  led  out 
toward  Black  Swamp  without  knowing  where  he 
was  going,  or  what  he  was  to  do.  The  girl  walked 
in  advance,  refusing  to  answer  his  questions,  only 


142  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

assuring  herself  that  he  followed.  Occasionally  he 
uttered  his  exultant  shout  after  a  prolonged  solilo 
quy  in  celebration  of  his  own  greatness.  He  was 
a  "  much  of  a  man,"  he  could  throw  anybody  in 
the  whole  county;  in  fact,  he  was  the  very  cock 
of  the  walk;  and  as  for  astuteness,  cunning,  and 
superior  mental  qualifications  in  general,  there  was 
no  one  to  equal  him ;  he  was  a  wonder.  Best  of 
all,  he  was  n't  "  beholden  to  nobody." 

"  Look  yuh,  ain't  dis  fur  enough?"  he  roused 
himself  to  demand  several  times;  but  Rosetta 
would  give  him  no  satisfaction,  and  if  he  showed 
any  sign  of  a  disposition  to  turn  back  she  promptly 
took  measures  to  attract  him  forward. 

And  so  they  drew  near  the  swamp.  Hitherto 
the  full  moon  had  lighted  their  path,  but  ere 
descending  into  the  dense  woods  along  the  creek 
Rosetta  felt  it  necessary  to  strike  a  match  and 
apply  it  to  a  stick  of  rich  pine  with  which  she  had 
provided  herself.  Holding  the  torch  aloft,  she  led 
the  way  down  the  slope  toward  the  water,  with  a 
trembling  voice  endeavoring  to  pacify  her  follower, 
who  complained  of  their  surroundings  and  threat 
ened  to  go  no  further.  As  they  presently  turned 
at  right  angles  from  the  road  and  penetrated  the 
woods  a  short  distance,  the  torch-light  all  at  once 
outlined  a  suspended  object,  which  caused  the 
mule  to  shy  violently,  and  its  rider  to  utter  a  yell 
of  terror  as  he  was  thrown  headlong  into  the 
bushes.  At  this  moment  an  owl  in  a  neighboring 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  143 

tree  uttered  a  harsh  and  dismal  hoot,  which  so 
startled  the  already  terrified  Rosetta,  so  shocked 
her  unstrung  nerves,  that  her  knees  gave  way 
beneath  her  and  she  collapsed  to  the  earth,  drop 
ping  her  torch,  which  rolled  a  few  feet  down  an 
incline  and  was  extinguished. 

About  midnight  a  childless  old  negro  who  lived 
with  his  wife  in  a  cabin  of  one  room  near  the  pub 
lic  road  about  half  a  mile  from  Black  Swamp  on 
the  Barcelona  side,  —  the  same  old  man  who  had 
seen  the  insensible  Cicero  lifted  into  the  white 
man's  buggy  and  glimpsed  the  form  of  Mamie-Lou 
John  as  he  fled  through  the  woods,  — was  aroused 
from  sleep  by  a  faint  but  protracted  tapping  on  his 
door,  and  the  sound  of  some  one  weakly  calling 
his  name. 

"  Unker  Mingo  !  oh,  linker  Mingo  !  "  said  the 
voice,  —  a  woman's  faint  voice.  "  Open  de  do'  — 
please  open  de  do' !  " 

"  Don't  you  open  dat  do'  tell  you  fine  out  who 
dere,"  cautioned  his  wife,  as  the  old  man  rose, 
stirred  the  embers  in  the  fireplace  and  threw  on  a 
stick  of  fat  pine. 

The  room  was  soon  flooded  with  light,  and  going 
to  the  door,  old  Mingo  demanded  to  know  who 
sought  admittance  to  his  home  at  such  an  unheard- 
of  hour.  But  there  was  no  answer  save  the  faint 
tapping  and  the  low  cry  which  begged  that  the 
door  be  opened.  He  thought  he  recognized  the 
voice.  Besides,  it  was  a  woman's,  and  evidently  a 


144  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

woman  who  was  ill  —  what  could  he  fear?  So  at 
last  he  unbolted  and  opened  wide  the  door,  lean 
ing  forward  to  look  out. 

The  old  man  suddenly  backed  into  the  house 
with  an  ejaculation  of  fear,  as  the  light  from  the 
fireplace  outlined  two  prostrate  figures  on  the  low 
steps,  —  one  that  of  a  groaning  woman,  the  other 
the  stiffened  form  of  a  man  with  the  fragment  of  a 
rope  hanging  from  his  neck. 

"  Unker  Mingo,"  implored  the  weary  voice, 
"  take  him  in ;  take  him  in,  do,  please,  Unker 
Mingo.  I  can't  tote  him  no  furder.  I  can't  tote 
him  to  town,  Unker  Mingo." 

"  She  talk  like  Rosetta  Hightower,"  said  the  old 
man's  wife,  getting  out  of  bed. 

Holding  aloft  a  lighted  torch,  the  astonished 
old  couple  stood  in  the  doorway  and  examined 
the  two  prostrate  figures,  recognizing  instantly 
the  dead  body  of  Cicero  and  the  living  form  of 
Rosetta.  The  wife  of  Mingo  looked  searchingly  at 
the  latter,  and  was  not  slow  to  comprehend  that  the 
condition  of  the  young  woman  lying  helpless  on  her 
doorstep  was  such  as  to  demand  prompt  attention. 

After  a  short  consultation  the  two  old  people 
lifted  the  body  between  them  and  placed  it  tem 
porarily  on  the  floor  in  a  corner.  Returning  to 
the  doorway,  intending  to  lift  the  young  woman 
also  and  bear  her  in,  they  were  amazed  to  see  her 
suddenly  rise  to  her  feet,  shrieking  horrible  oaths. 

A  vehicle  was  passing  rapidly  on  the  road  and 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  145 

the  sound  of  the  laughing,  happy  voices  of  a  young 
girl  and  a  young  man  entered  the  cabin  door. 
There  was  a  ball  in  Barcelona  that  night,  and  one 
of  the  gay  dancers  was  now  being  taken  to  her 
home  in  the  country.  It  was  this  that  roused 
Rosetta  and  filled  her  soul  with  bitterness  and 
rage.  She  knew  from  the  sound  of  their  voices 
that  they  were  white,  and  she  stood  up  and  cursed 
them  with  her  last  strength.  They  were  white  and 
therefore  honored,  their  pathway  sown  with  happi 
ness  and  light ;  she  was  black,  dishonored,  her 
pathway  lost  in  darkness,  and  her  soul  weighed 
down  with  hopeless  grief.  The  woman  raged  at 
the  contrast  and  called  down  evil  upon  them.  The 
burden  of  her  curse  was  that  hell  might  engulf 
them  and  all  their  race. 

The  sound  of  the  wheels  and  the  merry  voices 
coming  no  more  out  of  the  gloom  to  madden  her, 
Rosetta's  strength  gave  way  as  suddenly  as  it  had 
just  now  come  to  life.  She  fell  in  a  heap  on  the 
steps  and  moved  no  more.  They  lifted  her  up, 
bore  her  in,  placed  her  on  their  only  bed,  and 
then  the  bewildered  old  man  and  woman  sat  down 
before  the  fire  and  conversed  in  low,  awed  voices, 
while  waiting  for  the  dawn. 

The  body  was  carried  to  the  grave  next  day, 
but  Rosetta  did  not  follow  it,  nor  was  the  unhappy 
young  woman  removed  to  her  own  home  until 
after  she  had  suffered  the  pangs  of  premature 
parturition. 

10 


X. 


As  he  walked  along  a  street  in  Barcelona  two 
or  three  weeks  later,  going  to  his  office,  Robert 
Morton  paused  to  listen  to  Colonel  Sanford  and  a 
prominent  planter,  who  stood  in  animated  conver 
sation,  the  centre  of  an  interested  gathering  of 
some  eight  or  ten  persons.  The  young  man  was 
in  a  troubled  state  of  mind  and  had  decided  to 
appeal  to  his  elderly  friend  for  advice.  It  was  this 
that  caused  him  to  halt,  rather  than  any  great  in 
terest  in  the  subject  of  discussion. 

"  But  when  you  move  them  out  wholesale,"  the 
planter  was  saying,  "what  am  /  going  to  do? 
Who  is  goin'  to  plough  my  fields,  and  pick  my 
cotton,  and  do  the  cuttin'  and  dippin'  on  my  tur 
pentine  farm  ?  " 

"  If  they  should  go  in  a  body,  which  is  very 
unlikely,  our  agricultural  system  would  no  doubt 
suffer, —  that  is,  until  white  foreign  labor  could  be 
imported,"  Colonel  Sanford  admitted.  "  But  what 
would  that  be  in  comparison  with  the  evil  that 
threatens  our  children  and  grandchildren?" 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  147 

"  It  is  my  business  to  take  care  of  myself,  and 
let  Providence  take  care  of  my  children  after  me," 
declared  the  planter.  "  Let  our  children  control 
'em  as  we  control  'em.  This  is  a  white  man's 
country  and  always  will  be." 

"  Do  you  suppose  for  a  moment  that  the  present 
state  of  things  can  remain  the  same  indefinitely?" 
asked  the  colonel.  "  It  is  the  wildest  folly  to  de 
pend  on  that.  Just  wait  until  they  have  developed 
capacity  for  organization  and  concerted  effort,  and 
until  they  numerically  outnumber  us.  Already 
they  are  on  the  road  toward  it." 

He  went  on  to  say  that  every  negro  child 
in  Barcelona,  almost  without  exception,  went  to 
school ;  every  white  child  did  not,  could  not  And 
it  had  been  shown  that  the  race  was  increasing 
much  more  rapidly  than  our  own.  In  1790  there 
were  only  700,000  blacks  in  the  whole  country,  in 
1860  there  were  4,000,000;  he  had  estimated  that 
there  were  now  about  7,000,000,  and  at  the  same 
rate  of  increase  there  would  be  in  fifty  years  not 
less  than  35,000,000,  one-half  the  present  popula 
tion  of  the  United  States.  When  it  came  to  that, 
the  colonel  thought,  there  would  be  a  desperate 
struggle  for  existence,  and  one  race  or  the  other 
would  have  to  go  down.  History  would  repeat 
itself.  It  was  not  possible  for  two  distinct  races  to 
exist  on  terms  of  equality  and  friendship  under 
one  government,  unless  they  had  begun  and  would 
continue  to  rapidly  amalgamate  by  intermarriage. 


T43  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

Would  there  ever  be  this  amalgamation,  this  min 
gling  of  the  blood  of  the  two  races,  in  the  South? 
There  was  not  a  man  or  woman  of  either  race  in 
the  whole  country  who  for  a  moment  expected  it. 

Colonel  Sanford  declared  that  neither  would 
the  people  of  the  outside  world  for  a  moment 
expect  it,  if  they  had  any  conception  of  the  silent 
but  ceaseless  and  inexorable  warfare  that  has  been 
waging  ever  since  the  slave  was  set  free  and  placed 
in  a  position  to  antagonize  the  dominant  race. 
The  inevitable  conflict  is  in  progress  wherever  the 
two  races  come  into  contact,  and  there  is  abso 
lutely  no  hope  that  it  will  ever  cease.  Every  living 
soul  in  the  South,  in  great  part  unconsciously 
though  it  may  be,  is  taking  part  in  it  continually. 
It  enters  into  everything,  is  the  one  burning  ques 
tion,  relegating  all  others  to  the  background,  and 
massing  together  in  one  unbroken  army  every 
discordant  element  of  either  race  which  would 
otherwise  stand  independently  apart.  What,  then, 
is  to  be  expected  when  the  weaker  race  shall  be 
come  able  to  measure  arms  with  the  stronger? 

The  planter  could  not  answer,  and  took  himself 
off,  pleading  pressing  business.  "  The  selfishness 
and  thoughtlessness,  or  apathy,  of  our  own  people 
about  this  question  are  simply  amazing,"  the 
colonel  concluded.  "  We  are  willing  to  cut  our 
children's  throats  rather  than  suffer  from  a  tempo 
rary  disorganization  of  labor." 

Morton  said  a  few  words  in  rejoinder,  substan- 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  149 

tially  agreeing,  and  then  asked  Colonel  Sanford  to 
accompany  him  to  his  office.  Arrived  there,  he  set 
a  bottle  of  wine  before  his  friend,  and  they  cordially 
pledged  each  other.  The  younger  man  began  at 
once  to  speak  of  a  loss  by  fire  which  he  had  sustained 
the  night  before,  the  elder  expressing  well-chosen 
words  of  regret  and  sympathy.  All  the  circum 
stances  of  the  fire  seemed  to  indicate  the  work  of 
an  incendiary,  and  Morton  found  additional  cause 
for  suspicion  in  the  fact  that  some  enemy  was 
trying  to  cast  a  spell  upon  him.  A  few  days  be 
fore  the  fire  this  enemy  had  contrived  unobserved 
to  convey  to  the  young  man's  bedroom  a  conjur 
ing  medium  similar  in  most  respects  to  the  one 
exhibited  in  the  mayor's  court." 

"  Some  friend  of  Cicero  Witherspoon,  perhaps," 
conjectured  Morton.  "  I  did  n't  help  lynch  him, 
but  I  helped  to  catch  him,  you  know." 

"  Jim  Jones  had  better  look  out,  then.  His  gin- 
house  may  be  the  next  to  go." 

"  This  loss  embarrasses  me,"  the  younger  man 
continued,  with  a  frown.  "  I  had  expected  to  fix 
up  that  house  and  go  there  to  live  when  I  married, 
leaving  my  mother  and  sisters  in  the  other  one.  I 
can't  afford  to  build.  The  income  from  my  pro 
fession  is  very  small,  as  you  know." 

"  But  it  will  increase.  It  is  bound  to.  You  had 
a  good  reputation  to  start  with,  and  you  have  made 
a  good  record.  It  is  only  a  matter  of  time, 
Robert."  Colonel  Sanford  brought  down  his 
empty  glass  with  emphasis. 


150  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  '  Only  a  matter  of  time '  is  rather  an  unsatis 
factory  prospect  to  a  man  who  is  in  love,"  said 
Morton,  with  downcast  eyes.  "  This  is  the  matter 
I  wanted  to  ask  your  advice  about,  Colonel.  Al 
ready  I  have  waited  a  whole  year  to  speak  to  —  to 
her,  hoping  that  my  prospects  would  improve. 
You  probably  know  whom  I  mean." 

"  I  think  I  do,  and  there  is  n't  a  lovelier  girl  in 
this  whole  country,"  Colonel  Sanford  declared, 
with  enthusiasm.  "  But  don't  put  off  speaking  to 
her  too  long.  Some  one  else  may  get  ahead  of 
you." 

"  I  have  often  feared  that,"  said  Morton,  gloom 
ily,  "  but  I  have  as  often  told  myself  that  I  was  in 
no  position  to  marry.  Has  a  man  a  right,  Colonel 
Sanford,  to  ask  a  woman  to  share  hardships  with 
him?" 

"  He  certainly  has  a  right  to  tell  her  that  he 
loves  her,  and  let  her  decide  the  rest  No  true 
woman  is  afraid  of  suffering  hardships  in  the  house 
of  the  man  she  loves.  Women  are  not  as  weak 
and  tender  as  a  young  man  is  apt  to  think,  and 
have  far  more  fortitude." 

"I  cannot  bear  to  think  of  not  being  able  to 
give  her  every  desirable  comfort." 

"  Look  here,  my  friend,"  exclaimed  the  colonel, 
"you  are  all  wrong.  That  sad  story  of  broken 
fortune  and  wretched  poverty  which  has  been  the 
story  of  so  many  of  us  since  the  war  has  not  been 
told  for  nothing.  In  the  long  run  it  will  have 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  151 

been  good  for  us.  You  are  a  stronger  character 
now  than  you  would  have  been  if  you  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  lap  of  luxury.  The  same  thing 
applies  to  young  married  people;  I  believe  it  is 
good  for  them  to  begin  poor.  Here 's  to  your 
success,  my  boy,"  the  colonel  concluded,  lifting 
his  glass. 

Half  an  hour  later,  as  Maum  Katie  was  slowly 
mounting  the  steps,  Colonel  Sanford  came  out  of 
the  office  with  a  satisfied  smile  on  his  face  and 
passed  her  with  a  friendly  nod,  in  response  to  her 
low  courtesy. 

Old  Maum  Katie  was  a  curious  anomaly.  As 
before  indicated,  she  seemed  to  have  no  conception 
of  the  absorbing  interests  and  aspirations  of  the 
younger  generation,  —  of  her  grandson,  the  pro 
fessor,  and  others  like  him,  —  but  stood  wholly 
aside,  living  in  the  past.  So  much,  perhaps,  for 
having  been  fifty  years  a  slave.  However  that 
might  be,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  representatives  of 
the  old  slave-holding  class  seemed  to  be  every 
thing  in  her  eyes,  while  the  new  people  were 
nothing.  She  courtesied  low  to  Colonel  Sanford, 
but  a  few  minutes  before  when  she  met  Adam 
Brown  on  the  street  she  looked  the  other  way. 
The  mayor  was  not  a  favorite  with  her,  however. 
She  did  not  live  in  the  Neck,  but  owned  a  little 
property  in  Barcelona  proper,  and  refused  to  give 
it  up.  Although  it  was  a  low  and  unhealthy  spot, 
it  joined  the  mayor's  land  and  he  wanted  it. 


152  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  Well,  Maum  Katie,"  said  he,  accosting  her  one 
day,  "  it 's  time  for  you  to  sell  out  and  move  back 
among  the  colored  folks.  I  '11  trade  with  you  ; 
I  '11  give  you  a  good  price  for  your  place."  The 
indignant  old  woman's  reply,  as  reported,  was 
quick  and  to  the  point :  "  I  ain't  advertisin'  to  sell, 
Mr.  Brown.  I  been  among  nice  white  folks  all  my 
life,  an'  dat  's  mo'n  some  people  kin  say.  You 
ain't  been  dere  long !  " 

Robert  Morton  was  putting  the  glasses  and 
bottle  away  when  this  courageous  character  ap 
peared  in  his  doorway  and  brightly  wished  him  a 
good-day.  "  I  come  get  de  money  for  de  wash, 
Mas'  Robert,"  she  said. 

"  And  you  shall  have  it,  Maum  Katie."  As  he 
was  paying  her,  he  asked  kindly  about  her  health, 
complimented  her  on  the  excellence  of  her  laundry 
work,  and  ended  by  presenting  her  with  an  extra 
coin. 

"  I  wonder  wut  you  'd  say,  Mas'  Robert,"  she 
remarked  ere  she  retired,  "  ef  I  was  to  tell  you 
wut  I  done  wid  dat  last  fifty  cents  you  give  me." 

"  Well,  what  did  you  do  with  it?  " 

"  I  went  to  Mr.  Parker's  sto'  an'  I  bought  ten 
cents'  worth  o*  sugar  an'  ten  cents'  worth  o'  flour 
an'  ten  cents'  worth  o'  eggs  an'  twenty  cents'  worth 
o'  butter." 

"And  you  took  it  all  home  and  you  and  your 
grandchildren  ate  it  up,  eh?" 

"  No-sir-ee !  "    declared    Maum    Katie,    smiling, 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  153 

but  fixing  her  eyes  gravely  on  the  young  man. 
"  I  gie  it  all  to  a  young  white  lady.  I  went  down 
to  her  house  an'  slipped  in  de  dine-room  an'  open 
de  pantry  do'  an'  poured  de  sugar  in  de  sugar-dish 
an'  de  flour  in  de  flour-box  an'  put  de  eggs  on  de 
shelf  an'  de  butter  in  de  butter-dish,  an'  den  I  come 
'way  an'  dey  did  n'  know  nothin'  'bout  it." 

"Did  you  really,  Maum  Katie?"  The  young 
man  was  astonished.  "  And  what  made  you  do 
that?"  he  asked,  looking  at  her  with  admiration. 

"  You  mus  n'  tell  nobody,  Mas'  Robert,  but  dem 
po'  people  'bout  to  starve,  you  see  'em  so." 

"  Why  — who  —  who  can  be  so  very  poor?  " 

"  Miss  Reba  Law'nce  an'  her  ma." 

"Oh,  Maum  Katie,  is  this  true?"  exclaimed 
Robert  Morton,  in  great  agitation.  "  And  you 
really  did  that  for  them?"  His  sallow  face  had 
turned  a  shade  paler. 

A  tear  rolled  down  the  old  woman's  cheek,  and 
wiping  it  away,  she  explained  how  she  had  first 
begun  to  suspect  it,  and  how  she  had  found  by 
investigation  that  Mrs.  Lawrence  and  her  daughter 
were  really  in  desperate  straits.  The  young  man 
listened  in  silence,  a  look  of  great  pain  on  his  face, 
which  gave  place  gradually  to  an  expression  almost 
of  happiness  as  he  reflected  that  under  such  cir 
cumstances  she  could  lose  nothing  in  marrying 
even  a  very  poor  man.  By  this  time  the  whole 
story  had  been  told  and  the  narrator  was  going 
over  it  a  second  time,  as  was  her  wont. 


154  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  Maum  Katie,"  Morton  interrupted  suddenly, 
"  you  must  do  that  again,  and  keep  on  doing  it, 
and  let  me  give  you  the  money  to  buy  the  things 
with,  you  understand." 

"  All  right,"  she  agreed,  her  soft,  kindly  voice 
sounding  like  music  to  him. 

"  But  you  must  be  very  careful  and  not  let  them 
find  you  out.  And  —  and,"  he  continued,  eagerly, 
could  n't  you  leave  money  f  —  put  it  down  where 
they  could  not  fail  to  find  it,  and  perhaps  think 
they  lost  it  themselves." 

Maum  Katie  showed  that  she  was  quite  willing  to 
try,  and  before  she  could  answer  Morton  bounded 
to  a  little  iron  safe  in  the  corner,  opened  it,  and 
came  back  shortly  with  bills  in  his  hand. 

"  Here  are  seventeen  dollars,"  he  said,  enthusi 
astically.  "  It  is  all  I  have  on  hand,  but  it  will  do 
for  the  present.  I  want  you  to  put  this  ten-dollar 
bill  in  the  house  somewhere  and  take  five  dollars  to 
buy  groceries  with  — 

"  Mus'  n'  buy  too  much  one  time,"  interrupted 
Maum  Katie.  "  Dey '11  'spicion  sump'n  right  off." 

"  Do  as  you  think  best,  but  be  sure  to  carry 
them  something  often.  They  sha'n't  suffer:  I  '11 
spend  every  cent  I  've  got  in  the  world  first !  " 

"  I  knowd  it.  I  knowd  he  would  n't  back  out 
'cause  she  so  po',  like  some  mens  would,"  was 
Maum  Katie's  reflection,  as  she  folded  the  bills  in 
her  hand  and  gazed  fondly  at  her  companion. 

"  And  take  these  two  dollars  for  yourself." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  155 

"Oh,  Mas'  Robert  —  " 

"Yes,  you  must.  It's  all  I  can  give  you  this 
time,  but  you  will  have  to  take  more  than  that 
from  me  before  we  are  through  with  this  thing.  I 
expect  you  to  look  after  them,  remember,  and  not 
to  say  a  word  about  it  to  anybody." 

"  I  ain't  tole  a  soul  but  you." 

"  Don't  you  think  you  had  better  buy  something 
and  take  it  down  there  in  your  basket  right  away?  " 
he  urged. 

Maum  Katie  agreed  and  went  off  smiling,  well 
pleased  at  this  turn  of  affairs. 

"  Come  and  see  me  again  in  a  day  or  two,"  he 
called  after  her,  adding:  "  If  they  catch  you  at  it, 
of  all  you  do,  don't  mention  my  name." 

As  the  sound  of  her  footsteps  died  away  on  the 
outer  stairs  and  his  excitement  began  to  subside,  a 
sudden  misgiving  seized  the  young  man.  What  if 
this  old  black  woman  had  deceived  him  and  gone 
off  with  all  his  ready  money?  How  could  it  be 
possible  that  those  two  refined  and  delicate  ladies, 
whose  interests  were  so  near  to  his  heart,  had  been 
reduced  to  such  an  extreme  of  poverty  without  the 
matter  becoming  public?  He  remembered  hearing 
of  their  loss  through  the  insolvent  railroad  com 
pany  about  a  year  since,  but  it  could  not  be  that 
this  was  their  only  means  of  support.  With  the 
half-formed  determination  of  following  Maum  Katie 
and  questioning  her  more  closely,  Morton  caught 
up  his  hat,  but  instantly  dropped  it.  No,  he  would 


i56  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

wait.     He  would  trust  this  kind  old  mammy  who  - 
was  agreeably  associated  with  all  his  earliest  recol 
lections.     He  had  never  known  her  to  lie ;   he  had 
always  trusted  her,  and  would  do  so  still.     It  must 
be  true. 

Walking  out  that  afternoon,  he  saw  Reba  and 
Betty  go  into  the  photographer's  where  Miss  Black 
was  employed,  and  he  resolved  at  once  to  take  a 
step  which  he  had  been  contemplating  for  some 
time.  Returning  to  his  office  and  making  some 
slight  changes  in  his  toilet,  he  descended  into  the 
street  again,  and  walked  rapidly  in  the  direction  of 
the  Lawrence  home.  Somewhat  to  his  surprise 
and  relief,  for  her  presence  there  was  clearly  indi 
cative  that  his  trust  in  her  was  not  abused,  Maum 
Katie  appeared  at  the  door  in  answer  to  his  knock, 
and,  as  she  showed  him  into  the  faded  parlor,  in 
formed  him  that  she  was  staying  with  the  invalid 
mother  while  Miss  Reba  went  out  with  her  cousin. 
Morton  bade  her  tell  Mrs.  Lawrence  that  he  had 
called  to  see  her  about  a  matter  of  importance,  and 
that  if  she  should  not  feel  well  enough  to  receive 
him,  he  would  communicate  with  her  by  letter. 

Mrs.  Lawrence  sat  propped  up  in  bed,  sewing 
hard  on  a  garment  which  Reba  had  put  down  when 
she  went  out.  The  sudden  announcement  of  the 
visitor  excited  her  as  only  a  nervous  invalid  who 
never  saw  company  could  be  excited.  A  decep 
tive  flush  overspread  her  face,  and  she  trembled 
from  head  to  foot,  so  that  for  some  minutes  she 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  157 

'thought  it  would  be  impossible  to  receive  him,  and 
contemplated  sending  him  word  to  address  her  by 
letter.  Had  she  been  sure  it  was  a  mere  matter  of 
business,  this  would  have  been  her  final  decision ; 
but  through  some  inexplicable  process  of  reason 
ing  she  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  Reba  was  to 
be  the  subject  of  the  coming  interview,  and  she 
determined  to  see  the  young  man  face  to  face. 
Assisted  by  Maum  Katie,  she  hurriedly  made  her 
self  and  the  room  presentable,  and  the  visitor  was 
shown  in. 

It  was  all  over  in  a  few  minutes.  In  a  very 
simple  and  manly  fashion,  he  confessed  his  love 
for  Reba  and  asked  permission  to  pay  his  ad 
dresses  to  her.  He  said  he  had  hesitated  a  long 
while  before  deciding  to  take  this  important  step, 
and  gave  his  reasons,  stating  plainly  what  his  pro 
fession  brought  him  at  present,  and  being  careful 
not  to  overestimate  his  future  prospects.  Mrs. 
Lawrence  heard  him  out,  and  then  made  answer 
in  the  somewhat  formal  fashion  which,  it  seemed 
to  her,  the  occasion  demanded. 

"  I  knew  your  father  well  and  esteemed  him 
highly,"  she  said.  "  I  have  not  seen  you  before 
for  some  years,  but  I  have  heard  only  good  reports 
of  you.  That  is  the  point  —  the  only  point.  As 
to  business  matters,  I  can  well  afford  to  say  noth 
ing.  We  are  all  poor  alike  now-a-days ;  poverty  is 
the  fashion.  It  is  therefore  a  matter  for  Reba  only 
to  decide.  Should  she  —  like  you,  you  may  be 
sure  of  my  full  approval,  Robert." 


158  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

She  pressed  his  hand  warmly  at  parting,  and 
when  he  was  gone  lay  back  upon  her  pillows  trem 
bling  and  more  unnerved  than  ever,  yet  filled  with 
gladness ;  for  out  of  all  the  young  men  in  the  town 
this  one  just  gone  would  have  been  her  choice, 
could  she  have  voluntarily  selected  a  husband  for 
her  daughter. 

Miss  Black's  labors  at  the  photographer's  were 
neither  arduous  nor  incessant.  She  often  had  time 
on  her  hands,  and  on  this  afternoon  she  was  writing 
when  Betty  and  Reba  called  for  her.  A  letter  had 
reached  her  from  her  aunt  in  Kingston  that  morn 
ing,  and  she  was  already  inditing  her  answer. 

"  I  have  just  seen  a  newspaper  giving  an  account 
of  that  horrible  lynching  in  Barcelona,"  Mrs.  Blos 
som  had  written.  "  I  wonder  that  you  are  willing 
to  live  in  a  place  where  such  terrible  things  hap 
pen.  Simply  because  that  poor  colored  man  com 
mitted  robbery  —  driven  to  it  by  hunger,  perhaps 
—  he  was  inhumanly  murdered.  But  you  know 
the  harrowing  details." 

"  I  know  the  harrowing  details  only  too  well," 
wrote  Miss  Black,  and  proceeded  to  give  the  true 
version  of  the  story.  "  I  owe  it  to  a  hero,"  she 
added  in  conclusion,  "  that  the  '  poor  colored  man  ' 
was  at  first  accused  only  of  robbery,  and  my  name 
was  withheld  from  the  public.  No,  I  am  not 
afraid  to  remain  in  Barcelona ;  I  intend  to  stay  and 
make  my  home  among  its  people,  because  they  are 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  159 

my  friends,  and  I  trust  them  and  love  them.  My 
eyes  are  opened,  and  I  shall  never  cease  to  wonder 
at  our  Northern  people  for  looking  on  carelessly 
from  afar  upon  the  desperate  struggle  of  the  two 
races  in  the  South,  persistently  bestowing  their 
sympathy  upon  the  ignorant,  slavish,  lawless  blacks 
rather  than  upon  their  brothers  in  color  and  blood." 

Had  Miss  Black  known  what  was  to  pass  between 
Mrs.  Lawrence  and  young  Morton  the  same  after 
noon,  it  is  possible  that  she  would  have  expressed 
herself  with  less  eloquence.  A  woman's  opinions 
are  likely  to  take  their  shape  and  color  from  the 
circumstances  immediately  surrounding  and  per 
sonally  affecting  her,  rather  than  from  an  extended 
or  general  view  of  a  given  situation  with  its  mani 
fold  and  conflicting  phases.  From  Miss  Black's 
point  of  view  the  Barcelonans  were  good  and  kind, 
and  in  the  happiness  of  a  vague  and  doubtful 
dream  she  would  fain  have  called  down  blessings 
upon  them ;  from  Rosetta's  point  of  view  they  were 
wicked  and  cruel,  and,  in  the  depths  of  her  misery, 
which  she  charged  up  to  them,  she  would  have  vis 
ited  them  with  the  most  blighting  curse  it  would 
have  been  possible  for  her  to  conceive. 

After  a  half-hour's  chat,  Miss  Black  followed  her 
visitors  into  the  street  and  walked  some  distance 
with  them.  It  so  happened  that  as  the  three  neared 
a  street  corner,  a  hurrying  negro  suddenly  appeared 
around  the  angle  and  narrowly  avoided  colliding 
with  the  young  lady  from  Boston,  who  shrank  away 


160  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

from  him  with  an  involuntary  cry  of  terror.  The 
negro  was  Mamie-Lou  John,  and  he  was  quick  to 
disappear  down  a  side  street.  His  face  recalled  a 
recent  occurrence  which  she  would  be  glad  to 
forget,  but  Miss  Black  was  not  sure  that  he  was  the 
man.  Afterwards  she  felt  glad  not  to  be  sure, 
considering  that,  had  she  been,  a  sense  of  duty 
would  compel  her  to  inform  against  him. 

"  I  am  getting  nervous,"  she  said,  apologetically. 
"  I  am  frightened  by  almost  every  black  face  I 
see." 

"I  thought  you  liked  them  —  the  negroes," 
Betty  remarked  in  wonder,  exchanging  glances 
with  her  cousin. 

"I  like  them?  I  detest  them !"  declared  Miss 
Black,  with  such  ardor  that  her  friends  were  more 
than  ever  surprised. 


XL 


BEFORE  calling  at  the  photographer's  to  see  Miss 
Black  the  cousins  had  spent  an  hour  together,  and 
Betty  had  communicated  some  important  news. 
In  the  first  place,  she  announced  that  she  had  at 
last  agreed  to  engage  herself  to  her  youthful  lover, 
Jack  Sanford,  and  said  that  her  decision  was  the 
subject  of  congratulation  at  home,  her  mother 
being  well  pleased,  and  her  step-father,  although  he 
preferred  Jim  Jones,  being  relieved  that  the  matter 
was  finally  settled.  Jack,  of  course,  was  very 
happy,  and  she,  —  well,  she  had  at  last  concluded 
that  she  did  really  love  him.  The  chief  trouble 
seemed  to  have  been  that  he  was  only  twenty,  a  year 
younger  than  herself,  and  though  a  fine  manly 
fellow  of  whom  she  was  very  fond,  he  had  seemed 
too  boyish.  During  a  year  past  she  had  hesitated 
to  dismiss  him,  while  unable  to  make  up  her  mind 
to  accept  him,  and  so  the  "  thing  hung  fire,"  as 
Adam  Brown  declared,  month  after  month. 

The  crisis  had  been  brought  about  in  rather  an 
amusing  way.  The  young  lover,  who  was  on 


ii 


1 62  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

friendly  and  familiar  terms  with  his  father,  had  con 
sulted  the  colonel  and  asked  his  advice.  The  ad 
vice  given  was  that  of  Benvolio  to  Romeo;  the 
colonel  recommended  his  son  to  "  examine  other 
beauties,"  and  to  make  sure  that  Betty  knew  such 
examination  was  going  on.  This  plan  being  care 
fully  and  craftily  carried  out,  at  the  end  of  two 
months  Betty's  mind  was  made  up  and  she  came  to 
terms. 

"  When  I  saw  him  gallivanting  around  with  other 
girls,"  she  confessed  to  Reba,  "  although  it  was 
exactly  what  I  had  often  told  him  to  do,  I  did  n't 
like  it,  and  I  felt  that  I  could  n't  give  him  up.  I 
should  have  known  it  before  if  he  had  n't  been 
such  a  boy !  I  told  him  I  could  n't  be  a  Lady 
Castlewood.  The  case  of  a  man  marrying  a 
woman  whom  he  had  long  hoped  to  have  for  his 
mother-in-law  was  made  attractive  in  '  Henry 
Esmond,'  fascinating  in  fact,  but  in  real  life  it 
would  be  the  most  utterly  absurd  and  frightful 
thing  imaginable.  The  fact  that  I  am  a  year  older 
than  Jack  will  always  haunt  me,  but  I  suppose  it 
will  make  no  difference  a  hundred  years  hence." 

Reba  congratulated  her  cousin  upon  having  ar 
rived  at  a  decision,  but  was  not  without  misgivings ; 
in  her  opinion  there  could  be  no  room  for  doubts 
where  love  was  real.  Betty  added  that  the  news  of 
her  engagement  had  seemed  to  stun  poor  Jones, 
although  she  had  steadfastly  discouraged  him  from 
the  beginning,  and  her  step-father  was  solely  re- 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  163 

sponsible  for  his  visits  to  the  house.  The  mayor 
himself  was  commissioned  to  tell  him,  and  did 
so,  —  riding  out  to  his  farm  and  calling  on  him  for 
that  purpose. 

"And  what  do  you  suppose?"  continued  Betty; 
"  that  poor  man  came  to  town  next  day  and  got 
drunk!  Papa  says  he  was  never  drunk  before  in 
his  life.  He  not  only  got  drunk,  but  came  down 
to  our  house  in  that  condition.  Mamma  was  on 
the  front  piazza,  alone,  and  he  staggered  in  and 
sat  down  by  her.  She  didn't  get  up  or  call,  not 
wanting  me  to  know  it.  But  I  saw  him  open  the 
gate  and  I  went  and  sat  at  one  of  the  windows, 
so  as  to  be  near  if  there  should  be  trouble. 
Mamma  was  n't  a  bit  afraid  of  him,  and  sat  there 
quietly  and  talked  to  him.  She  asked  him. how  he 
felt,  and  he  said  '  Bully/  afterwards  mumbling  some 
thing  about  his  liver  being  out  of  order.  '  I  'm 
afraid  something  else  is  out  of  order,  you  poor 
man/  said  mamma,  and  cried  a  little.  She  was  very 
sorry  for  him.  He  seemed  to  realize  that  he  was 
in  the  presence  of  a  lady  and  did  not  say  a  pro 
fane  word;  but  he  talked  in  a  very  ridiculous  way, 
and  nearly  fell  out  of  his  chair  several  times.  He 
tried  to  sing  a  song  and  talked  exultantly  about 
being  '  beholden  to  nobody; '  and  once  he  cried  out 
that  he  had  '  plenty  of  money  and  no  poor  kin ' ! 
Finally  Charlie  turned  up  and  took  him  off  down 
town.  '  Charles,  old  boy,  you  're  my  friend,  ain't 
you?'  the  poor  fellow  repeated  two  or  three  times 


1 64  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

as  they  staggered  off.  He  apologized  to  papa  for 
it  a  few  days  later,  and  said  he  would  never  get 
drunk  again  as  long  as  he  lived.  I  shudder  to 
think  of  what  my  feelings  would  have  been  if  I  had 
ever  encouraged  that  man  just  for  the  sake  of  his 
attentions,  as  some  girls  do.  Papa  is  to  blame  if 
anybody  is.  He  is  n't  the  only  unhappy  one," 
Betty  continued.  "  You  must  have  discouraged 
Charlie  at  the  tournament  ball,  Reba." 

"  I  did,"  was  the  low  answer.  "  For  his  sake  I 
thought  it  ought  to  stop  then  and  there.  I  sus 
pected  it  before,  and  I  ought  not  to  have  allowed 
him  to  crown  me." 

"Ever  since  then  he  has  shown  it,"  Betty  de 
clared.  "  He  stays  and  stays  out  at  the  place  and 
will  hardly  ever  come  to  town.  Mamma  cries 
over  it  and  won't  give  up  hope.  But  I  Ve  told  her 
it 's  no  use ;  you  never  would  like  Charlie  in  that 
way." 

"  I  'm  so  sorry, —  for  her  and  for  him,"  said 
Reba,  tears  in  her  voice. 

"  Oh,  he  '11  get  over  it,"  was  the  rejoinder,  with 
an  air  of  large  experience.  "  He  '11  get  over  it 
after  awhile,  and  Jim  Jones  will,  too.  Young  men 
recover  very  soon." 

On  the  day  after  her  interview  with  Robert 
Morton,  Mrs.  Lawrence  made  him  the  subject  of  a 
conversation  with  her  daughter,  but  said  nothing 
about  his  visit  or  his  intentions,  fearing  to  influence 
Reba's  decision.  She  easily  conceived  that  a  girl 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  165 

of  the  highest  spirit,  who  proposed  for  herself  a 
true  marriage  or  none,  might  delusively  persuade 
herself  that  she  loved  an  attractive  young  man, 
while  under  the  influence  of  a  desire  to  extricate 
her  mother  and  herself  from  a  position  so  desper 
ate  as  was  now  theirs ;  and  to  save  her  daughter 
from  the  consequences  of  such  a  mistake  was  the 
mother's  chief  concern,  for  she  admitted  no  sort  of 
doubt  that  such  a  marriage  would  be  a  mistake 
fraught  with  the  possibilities  of  the  worst  evil. 

When,  therefore,  the  subject  came  up  she  spoke 
guardedly.  She  had  observed  for  some  time  that 
her  daughter  seemed  disinclined  to  discuss  the 
young  man,  and  took  this  as  a  favorable  sign, — • 
as  indicative  that  she  had  begun  to  feel  for  him 
more  than  mere  friendship ;  but  she  was  not  sure, 
and  wished  to  see  events  take  their  own  proper 
course.  She  began  by  saying  that  she  regretted 
not  to  see  a  man  so  promising  as  Morton  succeed 
more  rapidly  in  his  profession,  and  added  that  she 
had  heard  a  good  deal  about  his  affairs  from  Mrs. 
Brown,  who  was  fond  of  him.  He  was  not  making 
much  money,  in  fact,  he  was  quite  poor, —  not, 
however,  because  he  lacked  in  ability  or  failed  to 
exert  himself.  She  had  heard  that  he  was  par 
ticular  and  conscientious,  and,  unlike  some  other 
young  lawyers  in  the  town,  refused  the  proffer  of  a 
good  many  cases  after  he  understood  their  merits. 
This  was  one  hindrance  to  his  material  success. 
Another  was  that  there  were  so  many  lawyers,  each 


1 66  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

with  his  little  following  of  relatives  and  friends  who 
used  all  their  influence  in  his  behalf,  thus  widely 
distributing  the  limited  patronage.  In  a  town  of 
the  size  of  Barcelona  there  could  be  only  one  or 
two  schoolmasters  and  editors,  a  few  physicians 
and  ministers,  and  the  law  was  almost  the  only 
opening  for  young  men  of  ability  who  had  neither 
capital  nor  taste  for  trade ;  for  the  bulk  of  the 
young  men  did  go  into  trade  now-a-days,  farming 
being  a  lost  art. 

Mrs.  Lawrence  added  that  if  Miss  Black  had  an 
atom  of  wisdom  she  would  concern  herself  with 
Morton's  character  rather  than  with  his  present 
business  prospects;  it  was  better  to  be  poor  and 
happy  than  to  be  rich  and  full  of  regret. 

"Have  you  heard  —  anything  —  about  them?" 
asked  Reba,  with  a  studied,  mechanical  manner 
which  her  mother  regarded  as  suspicious. 

"  Oh,  no ;  only  I  thought  she  might  fall  in  love 
with  him  after  —  after  that  matter  with  Sam 
Thomas,  you  know." 

"  Did  Aunt  Matilda  say  anything  about  his  ten 
dency  to  drink?"  asked  Reba,  suddenly,  and  for 
the  moment  Mrs.  Lawrence  lost  all  hope. 

"  Why,  no  !     Who  says  —  " 

"Josephine  told  me  'people'  said  he  had  been 
seen  taken  home  drunk  late  at  night." 

"  I  don 't  believe  a  word  of  it.  Matilda  had 
never  heard  such  reports..  I  suppose  he  drinks  in 
moderation,  as  all  gentlemen  do  —  or  used  to  do." 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  167 

"  I  did  n't  believe  it  at  the  time,"  said  the  girl, 
quietly,  and  her  mother's  hope  returned.  "  Jose 
phine  has  not  been  here  since  the  day  she  told 
me,"  Reba  added.  "  If  she  does  n't  collect  us 
some  money  soon  I  don't  know  what  we  '11  do." 

Their  struggle  for  existence  was  growing  more 
bitter.  The  help  persistently  given  by  the  invalid 
indeed  lessened  the  burden  for  Reba,  but  hardly 
increased  their  income.  Josephine  was  offered 
special  inducements  and  brought  them  more  work, 
but  failed  to  collect  a  proportionately  larger  sum. 
For  weeks  Mrs.  Lawrence  had  been  feigning  a  lost 
appetite,  and  her  daughter  in  consequence  was  able, 
as  a  rule,  to  satisfy  her  own  hunger;  but  already  a 
day  had  come  when  there  was  absolutely  nothing 
to  eat  in  the  house.  At  breakfast  Reba  cooked 
the  last  egg  and  carried  it  in  to  her  mother  to 
gether  with  a  single  slice  of  bread  without  butter. 
Mrs.  Lawrence  feigned  nausea  and  would  not  touch 
either.  At  noon  Reba  heated  the  same  egg  over 
and  carried  it  in  with  the  same  slice  of  bread,  only 
to  find  that  her  mother's  nausea  had  increased. 
The  same  tragical  comedy  was  re-enacted  when  the 
hour  for  supper  arrived. 

Reba  began  to  comprehend  that  her  mother  was 
determined  to  starve  so  long  as  there  was  not  food 
enough  for  both,  and  saw  that  something  must  be 
done  without  delay.  She  told  herself  with  conster 
nation  that  a  person  of  so  delicate  a  constitution 
as  her  mother's  could  not.  suffer  hunger  with 


1 68  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

impunity,  little  dreaming  that  grave  mischief  had 
been  done  already.  She  determined  to  go  to  her 
aunt  the  next  day,  confess  their  deplorable  situa 
tion,  and  appeal  for  help. 

Going  to  the  kitchen  at  an  early  hour  the  next 
morning  with  intent  to  warm  over  the  same  egg  a 
third  time  and  toast  the  same  piece  of  dry  bread, 
she  was  amazed  and  bewildered  to  find  butter,  flour, 
sugar,  and  several  eggs  in  the  pantry.  It  was 
impossible  that  she  could  have  overlooked  these 
things  yesterday.  Yet  what  other  explanation 
could  there  be?  Food  did  not  rain  down  from  the 
roof  of  a  pantry.  Reba  thought  of  the  miraculous 
increase  of  the  meal  and  the  oil  in  the  house  of 
the  widow  who  entertained  the  man  of  God,  the 
prophet  of  Israel,  in  time  of  famine,  and  with  a 
thankful  heart  prepared  a  breakfast  for  her 
mother  and  herself.  She  shrank  from  appealing  to 
Adam  Brown,  even  through  his  wife,  her  aunt,  and 
put  her  visit  off. 

The  next  day  Josephine  appeared,  as  cheerful 
as  ever,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  was  less  than 
three  weeks  a  widow.  Josephine  was  a  child  of 
nature,  and  did  not  see  the  necessity  of  feigning  a 
grief  which  she  did  not  feel.  What  was  of  impor 
tance  in  connection  with  her  visit  was  that  she  left 
two  dollars  which  she  had  with  difficulty  collected, 
and  thus  absolute  famine  in  the  household  was 
averted  for  the  time. 

One  morning,  a  day  or  two  after  Maum  Katie's 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  169 

interview  with  Morton,  Reba  was  overjoyed  to 
find  a  ten-dollar  bill  in  a  drawer  of  her  dressing- 
table,  and  ran  with  it  to  her  mother,  hazarding  the 
guess  that  she  had  put  it  there  and  forgotten  it 
months  before.  But  Mrs.  Lawrence  looked  at  the 
money  suspiciously,  recalling  the  recent  strange 
discovery  of  unexpected  food  in  the  pantry. 

"  I  fear  some  kind  person  knows  how  wretchedly 
poor  we  are,  and  is  trying  to  help  us  secretly,"  she 
said. 

"It  may  be  Aunt  Matilda,"  suggested  Reba, 
after  a  thoughtful  pause.  "  Betty  may  have  found 
out,  in  coming  here.  She  has  sharp  eyes." 

The  discovery  on  the  same  day  of  more  grocer 
ies  in  the  pantry,  a  larger  supply  than  the  first, 
served  to  confirm  this  view;  and  it  was  at  once 
agreed  that  Reba  should  keep  on  the  watch,  in  order 
to  discover  if  possible  the  benefactor  who  was  actu 
ated  by  so  tender  a  regard  for  their  feelings.  It 
should  be  added  that  their  pride  was  not  as  keenly 
wounded  as  it  would  have  been  in  former  days, 
they  having  reached  the  point  where  such  a  feeling 
is  well-nigh  lost  in  the  presence  of  graver  concerns. 
Still  they  felt  uneasy.  Bitter  necessity  compelled 
them  to  eat  the  food  and  spend  the  money,  but 
they  would  gladly  have  refrained  from  so  doing. 

For  more  than  a  week  Reba  kept  on  the  watch 
without  making  any  discovery,  sitting  with  her 
sewing  in  her  mother's  room  near  a  window 
whence  she  could  frequently  scan  the  back  piazza 


1 70  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

and  not  fail  to  observe  any  one  entering  the 
dining-room.  It  was  often  her  habit  while  thus 
engaged  to  sing,  in  a  soft,  sweet  voice,  which  was  an 
unfailing  source  of  pleasure  to  the  invalid.  Her  voice 
was  of  an  unusual  quality,  and  had  been  much  ad 
mired  among  her  few  friends;  but  of  late  Reba 
scarcely  had  the  heart  to  sing,  and  was  glad,  her 
mother  did  not  request  it.  As  she  sat  in  the  room, 
they  talked  a  little  now  and  then,  and  meanwhile  she 
sewed  hard  and  kept  on  the  watch.  At  last  one 
afternoon,  as  she  sat  listening  to  a  mocking-bird  in 
a  China-tree  of  the  yard  and  thinking  of  her  own 
neglected  voice,  she  heard  stealthy  steps  on  the 
back  piazza,  and  looked  up  just  in  time  to  see  a 
figure  disappear  through  the  dining-room  door. 

Reba  rose  at  once  and  followed  to  the  dining- 
room  as  quietly  as  possible.  A  black  woman  with 
a  basket  on  her  arm,  standing  within  the  wide-open 
pantry,  busily  engaged  in  emptying  several  small 
packages,  was  what  she  saw.  One  step  nearer,  and 
she  recognized  the  intruder. 

"  Maum  Katie,  what  are  you  doing  there?"  the 
girl  suddenly  demanded  from  her  place ;  whereupon 
the  old  woman  dropped  her  basket  and  came  out 
of  the  pantry  in  great  fright. 

"  I  ain't  stealin'  nothin',  Miss  Reba.  I  ain't 
stealin'  a  thing,"  she  ejaculated  helplessly. 

"  Oh,  Maum  Katie,"  cried  the  girl,  horror-struck, 
"  how  could  you  think  I  thought  you  were  stealing? 
I  knew  what  you  were  doing." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  171 

"  Did  you,  Miss  Reba,  honey?  " 

"  Yes,  I  did,  and  I  think  you  are  an  angel  of 
goodness."  Reba  burst  into  tears.  "  Come  with 
me  to  mamma,"  she  sobbed. 

The  two  went  into  the  house  immediately,  and 
stood  together  by  the  invalid's  bed  as  Maum  Katie 
made  her  confession.  At  first  she  made  no  men 
tion  of  Morton,  remembering  his  earnest  charge, 
except  to  say  that  it  was  the  money  given  her  by 
him,  out  of  the  goodness  of  his  heart,  that  she  had 
made  use  of. 

"  And  did  you  put  that  ten-dollar  bill  in  Reba's 
room,  too?"  the  invalid  asked  suddenly,  in  the 
midst  of  the  confession,  which  had  embraced  only 
the  pantry  supplies. 

"  Ye-yes,  ma'am,"  stammered  Maum  Katie,  in 
great  uneasiness. 

"  I  did  n't  know  there  was  anybody  in  the  world 
as  good  and  kind  as  you,"  said  Mrs.  Lawrence, 
overcome,  a  great  tear  rolling  down  her  cheek. 
"  We  thank  you  with  all  our  hearts,"  she  added, 
looking  tenderly  upon  their  stammering  benefactor ; 
"  but  you  must  not  do  any  more  of  it,  Maum 
Katie.  How  can  you  afford  to?  It  must  be  all 
you  can  do  to  take  care  of  yourself.  And  —  and  " 
-  her  pride  coming  to  the  surface  —  "  we  really 
don't  need  your  help,  you  know.  And  we  will  pay 
you  the  money  back  soon." 

Maum  Katie  was  now  overcome  in  turn,  and, 
forgetting  her  promise,  confessed  all,  —  how  she 


i;2  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

had  acted  of  her  own  accord  in  the  first  instance, 
but  only  as  Robert  Morton's  instrument  afterward. 
The  effect  of  the  story  on  Reba  was  such  that  she 
fell  on  her  knees  at  the  bedside,  threw  her  arms 
round  her  mother,  and  the  two  kissed  each  other 
repeatedly,  in  an  odd  frantic  way,  weeping  softly. 
Maum  Katie  looked  down  upon  this  inexplicable 
demonstration  with  shining  eyes,  deducing  there 
from  certain  conclusions  which  were  evidently  very 
satisfying  to  her. 

"  Tell  him,"  said  Reba,  following  the  old  woman 
to  the  piazza  as  she  was  taking  her  leave,  —  "  tell 
him  we  don't  need  it,  as  mamma  says,  but  please 
don't  tell  him  that  we  know  he  is  helping  us." 

Maum  Katie  readily  gave  the  promise  and 
departed.  Then  Reba  returned  to  her  mother, 
kneeling  at  the  bedside  as  before. 

"  We  have  a  friend  now,  —  a  true  friend,  Reba," 
said  Mrs.  Lawrence,  softly.  "  I  could  die  now 
without  feeling  that  you  were  being  left  alone." 

The  girl  saw  no  significance  in  this  speech,  and 
the  two  were  happier  that  night  than  for  many 
months.  But  the  next  morning  Reba  was  made 
anxious  by  the  discovery  that  her  mother  was 
weaker  than  usual,  and  really  could  not  eat,  al 
though  for  the  present,  at  least,  there  was  no  lack 
of  good  food. 


XII. 

MORE  than  half  the  adult  population  of  the  Neck 
had  crowded  into  its  small,  rude  public  hall  in 
order  to  listen  to  the  much  advertised  debate  on 
the  Liberia  emigration  question.  Parson  Smith 
and  Professor  Brice  smiled  complacently  at  each 
other  as  they  witnessed  the  gathering  of  the  as 
sembly  and  reminded  themselves  that  the  coming 
contest  of  words  was  the  result  of  their  efforts. 
They  had  organized  the  club,  had  selected  the 
speakers,  had  put  ideas  into  their  heads,  and 
thought  they  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
result  would  be  a  source  of  pride  to  the  race. 
Especially  gratified  were  they  when  some  half- 
dozen  white  men,  Colonel  Sanford  being  among 
them,  entered  the  hall  and  were  provided  with 
seats  on  a  separate  bench  near  the  door.  The 
smiling  parson  and  professor  each  wondered  if 
even  the  most  intelligent  white  people  could  sur 
pass  what  they  expected  to  accomplish  in  an  ora 
torical  way  that  evening,  and  for  the  moment  this 
thought  obscured  in  their  minds  the  end  and  ob 
ject  of  the  meeting  itself.  A  certain  exuberant  and 


174  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

almost  childish  vanity  characterizes  the  educated 
(or  half-educated)  negro. 

After  prolonged  and  inexplicable  delay,  during 
which  the  leaders  scanned  the  assembly  with  an 
air  of  conscious  superiority,  and  put  their  heads 
together  and  whispered,  the  meeting  was  opened 
by  the  singing  of  a  hymn.  Then  a  robust  young 
woman  stood  forth  and  recited  in  a  sort  of  half- 
chant  a  long,  measured  narrative,  which,  for  the 
want  of  a  more  accurate  term,  may  here  be  called 
an  epic  poem  in  condensed  form,  describing  the 
march  of  the  sons  of  Israel  from  Egypt  to  Canaan. 
It  was  the  same  young  woman  who  was  wont  to 
chant  and  sell  her  own  and  "  the  blind  lady's  "  pro 
ductions  on  Saturdays  in  the  negro  quarters  of 
Barcelona.  Grammar  and  metre  were  alike  at  fault 
in  the  present  effort,  but  the  poetess  had  chosen  an 
august  and  stirring  theme,  her  voice  was  a  rich 
contralto,  her  manner  was  animated,  at  times  really 
dramatic,  and  the  white  as  well  as  the  black  occu 
pants  of  the  hall  listened  intently. 

"  We  could  n't  'a'  had  a  better  interduction  to  the 
subjeck  befo'  us,"  said  Parson  Smith,  taking  the 
floor  as  soon  as  the  poetess  had  sounded  the  last 
string  of  her  lyre  and  resumed  her  seat  amid  great 
applause.  "Miss  Rachel  tells  the  old  story  of  the 
Israelites  marchin'  to  the  promised  Ian',  an'  it  makes 
me  think  of  us  h-yuh  to-day  who 're  tryin'  to  see 
our  way  clear  to  march  out  of  America,  the  white 
man's  country,  to  Africa,  our  own  country,  which 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  175 

God  give  to  us  long  ago.  Brethren,  we  are  free, 
but  we  are  still  in  Egypt,  in  the  house  of  bondage, 
in  the  white  man's  country,  where  it 's  no  use  to 
try  to  live  under  our  own  vine  an'  fig-tree,  an', 
brethren,  we  must  git  out!  We  must  rise  up  an' 
go  up  an'  march  to  the  promised  Ian',"  shouted 
the  parson,  already  on  his  highest  key. 

"  But  the  trouble  is,  some  say  it's  too  fur,  an' 
some  say  they  dunner  whether  we  ever  come  fum 
there  or  not,  an'  some  say  one  thing  an'  some 
another,  an'  some  care  more  for  the  flesh-pots  of 
Egypt  'n  for  the  glory  of  their  race,  an'  they  ruther 
stay  h-yuh  an'  make  bricks  for  the  'Gyptians  all 
their  days.  These  are  the  faint-hearted  brethren, 
an'  the  holy  Book  says  '  a  shaking  leaf  shall  chase 
them.'  Brethren,  I  despise  the  faint-hearted. 
Brethren,  I  say  rise  up  !  —  wake  up  !  "  shouted  the 
speaker,  striking  his  right  fist  into  his  left  palm. 
"  Brethren,  we  are  in  a  strange  Ian';  we  was  brought 
h-yuh  by  force ;  an'  now  we  are  free  to  go,  let  us 
return  to  the  Ian'  of  our  fathers  where  God  meant 
for  us  to  be.  It  ain't  good  for  white  an'  black  to 
live  together ;  it  ain't  accordin'  to  the  will  of  God 
who  put  us  off  to  ourselves  at  the  start  an'  (  deter 
mined  the  bounds  of  their  habitation.'  Brethren, 
let  us  arise  an*  go." 

After  a  long,  rambling,  and  impassioned  harangue 
in  this  strain,  the  parson  became  more  calm  and 
spoke  with  more  real  force  of  the  advantages  of 
African  soil,  vegetation,  etc.,  presenting  the  more 


176  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

favorable  reports  as  to  the  progress  of  the  Liberian 
republic,  and  quoting  from  Bishop  Taylor. 

The  next  speaker  proved  to  be  Mamie-Lou  John, 
appointed  on  the  negative.  He  had  been  carefully 
"  coached  "  by  the  schoolmaster,  who  wished  to  see 
both  sides  of  the  question  presented,  and  he  began 
by  asking  if  the  situation  of  the  negro  in  America 
was  really  as  bad  as  some  pretended.  He  thought 
not.  He  thought  the  race  had  made  considerable 
advance,  and  now  had  many  rights  and  privileges 
formerly  denied  it.  He  raised  a  laugh  by  declar 
ing,  in  substance,  that  although  it  was  difficult  for 
a  negro  to  get  into  the  jury-box,  it  was  compara 
tively  easy  for  him  to  get  into  the  prisoners'  dock. 
Work  was  furnished  the  negro  not  only  on  planta 
tions,  but  in  many  industries.  Many  of  the  race 
had  been  able  to  accumulate  a  little  property  and 
were  better  off  than  a  good  many  white  laboring 
men.  Some  had  even  acquired  wealth.  He  pointed 
out  that  negro  children  went  to  school,  mainly  at 
the  white  man's  expense.  In  some  elections,  at 
least,  the  black  man's  vote  was  not  only  counted, 
but  was  paid  for  in  cash. 

"  I  reckon  Brother  Smith  will  call  me  one  o'  the 
faint-hearted,"  said  Mamie-Lou,  with  a  laugh,  "  but 
I  want  to  know  mo'  about  Liberia  befo'  I  go  there. 
I  don't  want  to  make  bricks  for  the  white  man  no 
mo'  'n  he  does,  but  I  'd  ruther  stay  in  Georgia 
where  I  kin  git  biscuits  an'  cabbage  than  to  go  to 
Liberia  an'  have  to  eat  lizards.  That 's  what  they 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  177 

tell  me.  An'  I  don 't  want  none  o'  them  wild, 
naked  Africans  to  ketch  me  an'  swing  me  up  over 
burnin'  red  pepper,  or  tie  a  rock  roun'  my  neck 
an'  fling  me  in  the  river,  like  they  done  Dave  Green 
'cause  he  stole  somethin'  from  'em.  That 's  what 
Jake  Hart  says,  an'  he  's  went  there  an'  come  back. 
But  ther  's  one  thing  'bout  Liberia  I  do  like,"  the 
speaker  admitted:  "They  say  you  kin  buy  one 
them  native  niggers  for  ten  dollars.  That  would 
suit  me.  I  would  n't  mind  ownin'  one  ef  I  could 
git  'im  so  cheap."  After  a  pause  he  concluded : 
"  But  I  'm  on  the  other  side  this  question,  myself, 
an'  you  ought  to  put  me  there  to  start  wid." 

"  Den  I  think  you  better  set  down,"  said  the 
chairman,  whose  voice  was  drowned  in  a  roar  of 
laughter,  coming  chiefly  from  the  white  bench. 

The  next  speaker  was  a  young  man  who  had 
enjoyed  a  collegiate  education,  or  what  passed  for 
one,  in  Atlanta,  and  he  delivered  a  passionate  and 
intemperate  address  in  favor  of  wholesale  and  im 
mediate  emigration.  Stripped  of  its  flaming  rhet 
oric  and  tiring  repetition,  its  profuse  reference  to 
the  "  burning  intellect  of  the  brain,"  the  "  mental 
force  of  the  mind,"  etc.,  with  which  the  black  man 
was  insistently  declared  to  be  endowed  equally 
with  the  white  man,  "  and  often  superior,"  his 
speech  was  in  substance  as  follows :  — 

"  This  is  a  white  man's  country,  and  always  will 
be,  right  or  wrong.  The  power  of  might  triumphs 
over  the  power  of  right.  The  white  man  is  boss, 


178  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

and  the  negro  is  '  nowhere.'  The  negro  is  his 
horse, —  his  very  dog.  And  the  shame  of  it  is  that 
the  negro  is  willing.  Why,  when  some  of  these 
white  men  wake  up  in  hell  they  '11  expect  to  hold 
a  nigger  between  them  and  the  fire,  and  the  nigger 
will  be  afraid  to  say  no  [laughter].  A  few  of  us 
can  be  preachers,  and  teachers,  and  merchants, 
and  doctors,  and  editors  among  our  own  people, 
but  what  are  we  among  the  white  people  but  hew 
ers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water?  What  are  we  but 
porters,  butchers,  hod-carriers,  draymen,  coachmen, 
butlers,  barbers,  waiters,  and  cooks  ?  What  career  is 
open  to  us  but  that  of  an  inferior  serving  a  superior? 
We  cannot  advance  beyond  the  bounds  set  for  us, 
even  though  we  be  the  most  skilled  and  learned  in 
the  whole  community  in  which  we  live,  which  often 
happens  [  !  ].  The  best  and  most  intelligent  of  us 
are  not  fit  to  sit  in  the  presence  of  the  most  igno 
rant  and  low-down  white  man.  At  no  table,  public 
or  private,  is  there  a  place  for  us.  We  are,  indeed, 
allowed  to  see  the  inside  of  the  finest  hotels,  but 
only  when  we  are  willing  to  wear  the  white  man's 
livery,  and  stand  behind  his  chair. 

"  My  blood  boils  when  I  remember  that  my  race 
contributed  250,000  soldiers  to  the  armies  of  the 
Union  in  the  late  war,  and  up  to  this  date  not  one 
genuine  negro  holds  a  commission  in  the  military 
or  naval  service.  Only  one  colored  —  almost  white 
—  man  has  as  yet  reached  and  held  the  grade  of  a 
mere  lieutenant.  Alas,  the  poor  negro !  Wher- 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  179 

ever  he  goes,  whatever  he  does,  he  is  hounded  by 
prejudice,  and  there  is  absolutely  no  door  of  es 
cape  except  that  of  the  grave.  Were  he  a  snow- 
white  leper  instead  of  being  merely  covered  with 
the  black  skin  which  God  gave  him,  he  could  not 
be  more  completely  cut  off  from  all  fellowship 
with  the  whites.  Our  fathers  tell  us  that  there  is 
a  thousand  times  less  real  sympathy  and  friendship 
between  the  two  races  now  than  there  was  before 
emancipation,  and  you  will  notice  that  it  is  our 
humble  old  people  to  whom  the  white  man  now 
shows  kindness.  This  means  that  the  white  likes 
the  black  well  enough  as  long  as  he  knows  his 
'  place,'  as  long  as  he  is  willing  still  to  be  a  slave, 
still  to  fill  his  old  lowly  position  without  complaint; 
but  just  let  the  young  freeman  assert  himself,  and 
there  is  war ! 

"Friends,  countrymen,  and  lovers,  are  we  to 
stay  here  and  allow  this  to  go  on?  Are  we  to 
remain  forever  the  white  man's  waiter,  day-laborer, 
wage-earner,  when  we  want  to  be  and  ought  to  be 
lawyers  and  judges  and  congressmen  and  senators 
and  presidents, — when  we  want  to  and  ought  to 
own  factories  and  steamboats  and  railroads  and 
banks?  Is  it  right  for  us  to  forever  be  the  under 
dog,  the  bottom  rail,  when  we  might  be  on  top  and 
have  got  just  as  much  right  to  be  the  cock  of  the 
walk  as  anybody?  A  thousand  times  no!  In 
Hayti  the  black  man  controls  everything  and  the 
white  man  ain't  nobody.  What  a  contrast !  Here 


i So  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

we  have  no  protection  for  our  wives  and  daughters 
or  even  for  our  lives.  The  case  of  Hayti  shows 
that  we  can  become  great  if  we  only  will.  Then 
let  us  leave  this  country,  where  we  are  nothing  but 
dogs,  and  return  to  the  land  of  our  forefathers, 
where  a  great  destiny  surely  awaits  us.  Friends, 
Romans,  countrymen,  and  lovers,  do  not  be  faint 
hearted.  Rouse  ye  from  your  apathy!  Awake 
to  the  bugle  blast  of  freedom !  Strike  for  your 
altars  and  your  fires,  God,  and  —  the  land  of  your 
forefathers !  " 

After  the  applause  had  subsided  a  mulatto  rose 
to  speak  for  the  negative.  He  said  it  was  interest 
ing  to  hear  both  sides  of  a  question,  but,  for  his 
part,  he  wanted  to  stay  in  America.  And  he 
was  n't  afraid  to  stay,  either  for  himself  or  his  fam 
ily.  The  whites  would  not  catch  him  and  hang 
him  unless  he  committed  some  terrible  crime,  and 
that  he  expected  to  be  careful  not  to  do.  As  for 
his  wife  and  daughters,  no  white  man  had  ever 
insulted  them,  and  as  long  as  they  respected  them 
selves  he  believed  they  would  be  respected  and 
would  be  safe.  He  would  say  the  same  thing  for 
the  women  of  the  whole  race;  as  long  as  they 
behaved  themselves  properly,  which  they  didn't 
always  do  *  by  a  long  jump,'  they  were  as  safe  as 
the  average  white  woman.  He  ventured  to  assert 
that  those  who  wanted  to  emigrate  to  Liberia  in 
order  to  become  judges  and  congressmen  and  sen 
ators  and  presidents  would  not  find  those  positions 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  181 

lying  around  loose;  he  thought  there  were  thou 
sands  of  white  men  in  this  country  who  would  like 
to  have  such  positions,  but  who  would  never  secure 
them,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  "  burning  in 
tellect  of  the  brain,"  which  the  young  man  from 
Atlanta  referred  to  so  often,  was  lacking.  Granted 
that  this  was  a  white  man's  country  and  Africa  the 
black  man's,  and  there  must  be  a  complete  separa 
tion,  he  would  like  to  ask  where  was  he  and  other 
"colored"  men  to  go?  This  sort  of  arithmetic 
could  only  result  in  assigning  them  a  place  in  the 
middle  of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  they  had  all 
better  learn  to  swim  at  once.  He  thought  it  a  for 
tunate  thing  that  there  were  now  fewer  mulattoes 
than  before  the  war. 

The  schoolmaster,  known  as  Professor  Brice,  then 
spoke.  He  said  he  had  been  deeply  interested  in 
the  sentiments  expressed  with  so  much  force  by 
his  young  friend  from  Atlanta.  It  was  all  true,  but 
there  was  another  side  to  it.  The  white  man  was 
indeed  unconquerably  determined  to  ostracize  the 
negro ;  he  had  notified  him  in  unmistakable  terms 
that  thus  far  he  should  approach  and  no  further. 
The  negro  had  learned  his  lesson  pretty  well  on 
the  whole,  and  those  who  forgot  it  might  expect 
to  be  taught  it  anew  most  effectively  and  without 
delay.  But  still  there  was  another  side  to  all  this, 
namely:  every  intelligent  and  candid  black  man 
knows  that  he  would  do  practically  the  same  thing 
in  the  white  man's  place.  The  best,  the  most  intel- 


1 82  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

ligent  and  high-spirited  of  the  race  do  not  desire 
close  contact  with  the  whites,  and  prefer  to  stand 
apart  as  a  separate  body.  Race  antipathy  may 
possibly  be  more  intense  among  the  whites  because 
the  blacks  have  been  their  slaves,  but  it  is  strong 
enough  on  both  sides.  This  —  he  declared  —  was 
not  an  argument  against  but  for  emigration.  The 
history  of  Hayti  shows  how  the  black  man  is 
inclined  to  treat  the  white  when  he  has  the  power ; 
it  also  shows,  just  as  conclusively  as  does  the  ne 
gro's  condition  in  America,  how  impossible  it  is 
for  two  such  heterogeneous  races  to  live  in  peace 
under  one  government. 

"  Our  people  made  a  big  mistake  about  this 
thing,"  continued  the  speaker.  "  We  thought  the 
Northern  white  man  loved  us  and  was  ready  to 
take  us  to  his  bosom,  and  that  only  the  Southern 
white  man  hated  our  black  skin,  but  we  Ve  found 
out  better.  We  profited  out  of  a  white  man's 
quarrel,  that  was  about  all.  As  long  as  the  North 
erner  stayed  mad  with  his  Southern  brother  he  tried 
his  level  best  to  put  us  on  top,  but  he  ain't  mad 
now  no  more,  and  he 's  done  quit  tryin'.  He  bit  off 
more  'n  he  could  chaw  anyhow.  We  can't  blame 
him ;  he  's  a  white  man  and  sooner  or  later  he  's 
bound  to  take  the  white  man's  side  against  the 
black.  You  notice  that  all  of  'em  that  comes  down 
h-yuh  to  live  mighty  quick  takes  the  white  man's 
side  and  gives  us  the  cold  shoulder.  We  all  vote 
the  Republican  ticket  in  national  elections,  and 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  183 

that 's  right  because  that  party  freed  us ;  but  it 
ain't  goin'  to  pay  for  us  to  forget  that  as  far  as  we 
are  concerned  it  ain't  a  question  of  party,  but  of 
race  in  this  country.  I  could  tell  you  of  many 
cases  if  I  had  the  time,  but  it 's  gettin'  late,  of 
outrages  against  the  black  people  in  the  North, 
which  prove  that  race  prejudice  is  jes'  as  strong  up 
there  as  down  h-yuh.  It 's  high  time  for  us  to  stop 
puttin'  hope  in  the  North  and  begin  to  depend  on 
ourselves.  If  we  ever  do  anything  h-yuh  we  've 
got  to  do  it  ourselves,  and  if  we  ever  go  to  Africa 
and  make  a  nation  we  Ve  got  to  do  it  ourselves. 

"  We  can't  do  it  h-yuh,  —  that 's  settled.  The 
very  man  who  wrote  the  emancipation  proclama 
tion  —  God  bless  him  !  —  said  before  the  war  broke 
out  that  there  was  such  a  difference  between  the 
white  and  black  races  as  would  forever  prevent 
their  living  together  on  terms  of  social  and  politi 
cal  equality.  In  this  thing,  hist'ry  only  repeats 
itself,  as  they  say.  Birds  of  a  feather  must  flock 
together.  It  is  the  everlasting  decree  from  on  high 
that  the  races  of  men  as  well  as  birds  and  beasts 
should  collect  together  '  after  their  kind.'  The 
black  people  belong  to  Africa,  the  yellow  people 
to  Asia,  and  the  white  people  to  Europe  and 
America.  God  never  intended  for  these  people  to 
live  in  one  country.  All  Europe  is  mixed  up  in 
the  United  States,  of  course,  but  then  all  Europe 
is  white  ;  it 's  one  race.  The  Chinese,  they  like  to 
come  h-yuh,  but  not  to  stay ;  they  want  to  make 


184  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

money  and  go  back.  And  Uncle  Sam  is  tired  of 
'em  a'ready  and  is  fixin'  to  shut  'em  out.  My 
friends,  it  ain't  a  question  of  whether  we  ought  to 
go  or  stay;  that  was  settled  ages  ago  when  we 
was  made  black  and  the  white  man  white.  The 
question  is  how  to  go,  where  to  go,  —  whether  to 
Liberia  or  the  Congo,  —  and  when.  Go  we  must. 
If  the  national  government  will  help  us,  so  much 
the  better;  the  thing  will  be  easier  and  quicker 
done.  If  not,  then  we  must  work  and  wait  and 
plan  and  save  and  go  anyhow !  I  propose  that  at 
the  next  meetin'  we  debate  on  the  means  to  carry 
out  the  great  scheme." 

As  the  schoolmaster  resumed  his  seat,  Colonel 
Sanford  was  seen  advancing  down  the  aisle. 

"  If  you  have  no  objection,  I  'd  like  to  say  a 
word  or  two,"  he  said  to  the  chairman  as  he 
approached. 

"  Suttenly.     We  be  glad  to  hear  you,  Cun'l." 

"  I  cannot  subscribe  to  everything  that  has  been 
said  here  to-night,"  began  Colonel  Sanford,  look 
ing  about  him  upon  the  assembly,  "  but  I  have 
heard  much  that  has  pleased  me  and  I  have  been 
deeply  interested,  —  especially  so  in  the  remarks 
of  the  last  speaker,  who,  I  believe,  hits  the  nail 
squarely  on  the  head.  Better  than  anything  else 
he  said,  I  think,  was  his  advice  to  you  as  a  race  to 
cease  to  look  to  the  North  for  help  and  go  to  work 
to  help  yourselves.  In  this  African  emigration 
question  which  is  of  vital  importance  to  both  you 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  185 

and  me,  but  especially  so  to  you,  I  would  advise 
you  as  he  has  done,  not  to  wait  to  see  whether  the 
North  will  help  you,  or  the  South,  but  to  help  your 
selves.  The  North  has  already  done  more  for  you 
than  you  could  have  dreamed  of  expecting.  When 
it  suddenly  admitted  to  the  suffrage  a  million  of 
recently  freed  slaves,  belonging  to  the  least  civil 
ized  race  in  the  world,  —  I  speak  frankly,  —  it  did 
for  your  sake  what  no  nation  or  country  has  ever 
done  before  in  the  history  of  the  world.  After 
that  most  extraordinary  leap  in  the  dark,  after  that 
too  precipitate  if  not  reckless  assumption  of  untold 
risks,  the  final  results  of  which  no  man  now  living 
can  foresee,  and  the  present  aspects  of  which  fill 
with  alarm  many  even  of  its  former  advocates,  the 
North  will  likely  be  slow  about  making  further 
sacrifices  for  you  on  a  large  scale.  Yet  in  the  end 
I  believe  North,  South,  and  West  will  combine  to 
help  your  movement,  because  your  going  will  be 
for  this  country's  good  as  well  as  your  own.  A 
government  whose  revenue  from  whiskey  and 
tobacco  alone  in  two  years  would  doubtless  more 
than  pay  the  expenses  of  the  immediate  transport 
ation  and  settlement  in  Africa  of  your  entire  race 
now  in  this  country,  a  government  which  has  spent 
$800,000,000  on  pensions  alone  within  twenty-five 
years,  is  surely  in  a  position  to  countenance  and 
give  at  least  a  measure  of  material  aid  to  a  move 
ment  which  must  prove  of  vast  benefit  to  its  own 
citizens. 


186  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  But  do  not  make  the  mistake  of  waiting  until 
that  is  done.  All  the  important  emigrations  of 
history  were  the  voluntary  movements  of  spirited 
and  enterprising  men  who  were  anxious  to  better 
their  condition.  The  two  greatest  emigrations  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  those  of  the  Irish  and 
Germans  to  this  country,  were  accomplished  with 
out  any  government  aid  whatever.  The  total  cost 
must  have  been  enormous,  but  was  borne  by  the 
emigrants  themselves,  although  most  of  them  were 
very  poor  men.  Do  you,  then,  follow  the  exam 
ple  of  these  ;  work  hard,  live  frugally,  put  by  your 
savings,  and  when  the  time  arrives  you  will  not  be 
left  behind.  Most  of  you  have  little  to  leave 
behind,  and  a  very  small  sum  comparatively  would 
suffice  to  carry  a  family  to  Africa,  build  for  them  a 
house  as  habitable  as  most  of  you  now  live  in,  and 
maintain  them  for  a  year.  Liberia  is  not  your  only 
chance.  The  great  Congo  Free  State  has  now 
been  opened  to  the  world,  and  its  charter  offers 
splendid  opportunities  for  the  founding  of  an 
empire  by  determined  colonists.  The  climate 
would  perhaps  be  trying  for  a  white  man,  but  it 
could  hardly  be  so  for  you.  The  mean  tempera 
ture  is  really  never  excessive,  seldom  rising  above 
ninety-one  degrees  even  in  the  hottest  months,  from 
January  to  April.  The  country  is  divided  between 
mountains,  plains,  and  lowlands,1  is  dotted  with 
lakes  abounding  in  fish,  and  is  intersected  by  innu 
merable  rivers,  the  greatest  of  which  is  the  mighty 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  187 

Congo,  a  stream  nearly  three  thousand  miles  in 
length,  and  not  less  than  ten  miles  wide  at  its 
mouth.  There  are  vast  tracts  of  the  country  cov 
ered  with  seemingly  boundless  forests  interrupted 
only  here  and  there  by  clearings  around  the  villages 
and  farms.  The  best  of  the  negro  races  are  said 
to  be  found  in  the  Congo  basin.  The  present 
scattered  inhabitants  of  this  region  are  said  to  be 
peacefully  inclined,  to  be  good  farmers,  and  to 
have  a  taste  for  trading.  There  is  already  a  trade 
in  precious  spices,  ivory,  gums,  and  dyewoods  ;  and 
rich  iron  and  sulphur  mines,  and  gold  and  silver 
deposits,  have  been  found.  The  soil  is  exceed 
ingly  fertile,  and  many  useful  trees  and  plants,  as 
coffee,  grow  wild,  and  as  many  as  three  crops  a 
year  of  some  vegetables  can  be  produced.  Besides 
many  native  fruits  unknown  to  you,  the  grape,  the 
orange,  the  lemon,  the  pine-apple,  the  cocoanut, 
the  banana,  etc.,  flourish  there,  and  manioc,  millet, 
sugar-cane,  tobacco,  hemp,  etc.,  are  cultivated. 
Indian  corn,  wheat,  rice,  and  the  potato  could  no 
doubt  be  introduced,  if  this  has  not  already  been 
done ;  for  in  the  opinion  of  eminent  scientists,  the 
Congo  basin  is  destined  to  become  the  granary  of 
the  world.  With  the  exception  of  the  elephant, 
the  hippopotamus,  the  chimpanzee,  and  a  few 
others,  the  animal  life  in  general  differs  but  little 
from  that  of  our  Atlantic  seaboard.  But  I  can't 
stop  to  tell  you  about  all  these  things.  You  can 
find  them  out  for  yourselves.  I  only  speak  of 


1 88  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

them  because,  to  my  surprise,  so  little  has  been 
said  of  them  here  to-night. 

"  One  would  think  your  race  here  would  rise 
up  as  one  man  to  embrace  any  opportunity  to 
escape  degrading  social  conditions  in  a  country 
belonging  to  another  race,  especially  when  a  rich 
and  desirable  country  is  open  to  you,  where,  if 
anywhere,  you  will  be  able  to  realize  the  dream 
of  prosperity  and  greatness  which  some  of  you 
doubtless  entertain.  I  believe  there  is  an  ap 
pointed  destiny  for  races  and  nations,  and  surely 
it  would  seem  to  be  yours  to  go  back  to  the  ancient 
seat  of  your  race,  and  carry  the  blessings  of  civi 
lization  which  you  have  at  least  in  a  measure 
acquired  during  your  long  enforced  sojourn  in  a 
strange  land.  A  more  glorious,  soul-stirring  pros 
pect  has  never  been  set  before  the  eyes  of  any 
people. 

"  Will  you  advance  and  embrace  it?  Are  you 
worthy  of  it?  If  you  are,  you  will  be  prompt  to 
bestir  yourselves.  Your  leading  men  will  be  tire 
less  in  their  effort  to  awaken  the  masses  of  the  race 
to  the  importance  of  this  question.  They  will 
agitate  it  far  and  wide  in  this  country,  and  cease 
not  until  there  has  developed  an  overwhelming 
sentiment  in  favor  of  it  among  your  people,  —  until 
shipload  after  shipload  of  your  friends  and  neigh 
bors  have  forever  left  American  shores,  —  and  all 
this  whether  with  or  without  the  white  man's 
help." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  189 

It  was  now  half-past  twelve  o'clock,  and  on  con 
cluding  his  remarks  Colonel  Sanford  did  not  wait 
to  hear  more.  Turning,  he  walked  quickly  down 
the  aisle  as  he  had  come,  and  then  out  at  the  door. 
The  bench  reserved  for  the  whites  was  long  since 
deserted.  Two  or  three  white  men  were  standing 
just  outside,  however,  and  as  the  colonel  appeared, 
one  of  them,  who  was  a  large  planter,  stepped  for 
ward  and  demanded :  — 

"  Colonel  Sanford,  do  you  know  that  you  are  a 
labor  agitator,  sir?" 

"  I  '11  tell  you  what  I  know,  sir,"  was  the  haughty 
reply.  "  I  know  that  I  'm  trying  to  save  your  grand 
children  and  mine  from  inconceivable  political 
ruin." 

"  He  's  a  regular  old  crank,"  said  one  of  the  by 
standers,  as  the  colonel  walked  on,  disdaining  to 
discuss  the  matter. 

"  If  Sam  Thomas  and  some  of  the  boys  was  here," 
remarked  another,  "  that  young  Atlanta  nigger 
might  have  some  trouble  before  he  got  home 
to-night.  He 's  about  as  sassy  as  they  make 
'em." 

Colonel  Sanford  soon  left  the  precincts  of  the 
Neck  behind,  and  entered  Barcelona  proper.  The 
streets  were  now  absolutely  deserted,  and,  although 
the  freshening  wind  shook  the  China-trees  and 
scattered  their  yellowed  leaves  abroad,  the  mid 
night  stillness  and  repose  were  no  less  perceptible 
and  impressive. 


1 9o  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

As  he  advanced  into  the  glare  of  an  electric  light 
in  the  business  quarter,  the  colonel's  attention  was 
attracted  to  the  figure  of  a  woman  shuffling  noisily 
and  hurriedly  over  the  brick  sidewalk.  As  she 
drew  near,  she  called  his  name  eagerly,  and  he 
recognized  Maum  Katie.  She  breathlessly  in 
formed  him  that  Mrs.  Lawrence  was  dead,  and 
asked  if  he  would  not  go  to  the  house,  no  one 
being  there  but  Miss  Reba  and  the  doctor.  She 
was  now  on  her  way  to  tell  Mrs.  Brown. 

"  She  was  tuck  sudden,"  the  old  woman  ex 
plained.  "  I  des  happened  to  be  dere,  an'  I  run 
fer  de  dawcter,  but  he  ain't  mo'n  git  dere  a  half- 
hour  befo'  she  was  gone." 

Colonel  Sanford  said  he  would  go  instantly,  and 
the  two  separated.  Upon  arriving,  he  found  the 
front  door  open  and  the  hall  dark,  but  light 
streamed  from  a  chamber  door  which  stood  ajar, 
and  after  some  moments  of  hesitation  he  approached 
and  entered  softly.  The  doctor  turned  from  the 
bed  at  the  sound,  and  the  two  men  stood  together 
near  the  door  and  whispered,  their  eyes  fixed  on  the 
young  girl  who  knelt  beside  the  couch  of  death, 
her  face  buried  in  the  pillows,  her  hand  clasping 
that  of  the  dead,  her  form  quivering  but  sending 
forth  no  sound. 

"  It  is  a  very  strange  case,"  whispered  the  doctor. 
"  She  must  have  suffered  from  a  sort  of  nervous 
dyspepsia,  for  she  has  evidently  wasted  away  for 
the  want  of  proper  nourishment." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  191 

In  a  short  while  hurried  steps  were  heard  in  the 
hall,  and  Mrs.  Brown  appeared,  being  followed  into 
the  room  by  her  daughter  and  Maum  Katie.  Betty 
went  instantly  to  the  bed  and  knelt  down  there, 
clasping  Reba  in  her  arms. 

"  Oh,  doctor  —  colonel  —  "  faltered  Mrs.  Brown, 
with  streaming  eyes,  looking  from  one  to  the  other 
appealingly,  —  "  it 's  so  sudden  —  so  dreadful !  We 
did  n't  none  of  us  know  a  thing  ailed  her  more  than 
common.  Po'  Reba  !  po'  child  !  " 


XIII. 

ON  the  morning  after  the  great  debate,  in  which 
he  modestly  believed  he  had  achieved  distinction 
if  not  greatness,  Mamie-Lou  John  left  the  town  in 
the  company  of  a  young  negro  called  Riley  Martin, 
who  had  succeeded  Cicero  as  his  favored  friend. 
Tired  of  hanging  about  the  haunts  of  the  idle  in 
the  Neck  and  Barcelona  proper,  they  had  some 
days  since  planned  a  change  of  scene,  and  only 
waited  for  the  night  of  the  debate  to  come  and 
go  before  taking  the  highway  for  Putnam,  situate 
twenty  miles  away  in  the  adjoining  county  of 
Richmond. 

Cheerfulness  is  one  of  the  negro's  most  pro 
nounced  characteristics,  and  these  two  reckless 
vagabonds,  who  had  no  prospects  in  life,  and  who, 
indeed,  would  be  lucky  to  escape  the  halter,  did 
not  fail  to  enliven  their  long  tramp  with  jest  and 
laughter,  gossip  and  song.  At  one  o'clock  they 
halted  in  the  negro  settlement  of  a  plantation, 
drank  water  at  the  well,  and  met  a  friendly  wel 
come,  but  were  not  offered  food,  the  dinner  hour 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  193 

being  long  past.  However,  they  did  not  suffer, 
having  found  wild  grapes  in  a  forest  by  the  way, 
foraged  a  field  until  they  secured  a  phenomenally 
late  watermelon,  and  later  in  the  day  invaded  a 
farmer's  sugar-cane  patch.  The  average  negro  is 
accustomed  to  scant  and  irregular  meals,  and  these 
two  were  by  no  means  inclined  to  complain  of  hard 
fare  that  day. 

Arrived  before  nightfall  in  Putnam,  a  less  con 
siderable  town  than  Barcelona,  they  looked  up  old 
acquaintances,  made  new  ones,  stood  about  the 
fires  which  the  blacks  burned  out  of  doors  in  the 
back  streets,  made  themselves  agreeable,  and  were 
invited  to  supper.  Later  they  lay  down  to  sleep 
on  the  bare  floor  before  an  open  fire  in  the  cabin 
of  an  acquaintance,  their  host  occupying  the  small 
inner  apartment  with  his  wife  and  family.  This 
was  only  a  slight  inconvenience  to  Mamie-Lou  and 
Riley,  and  they  thought  not  of  complaining  even 
to  each  other;  they  were  enjoying  their  visit,  and, 
but  for  an  important  circumstance,  they  might 
have  returned  to  Barcelona  in  a  day  or  two  no  more 
guilty  than  when  they  started  on  their  journey. 

The  important  circumstance  was  the  sight  of  a 
young  white  man  with  money.  It  was  at  an  early 
hour  of  the  next  morning  that  they  saw  him  go 
into  an  express  office  in  Putnam  and  count  and 
re-count  a  roll  of  bank  notes  preparatory  to  having 
it  inclosed  in  an  express  envelope  and  sealed. 
They  kept  an  eye  on  him  all  day  as  he  went  about 

13 


194  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

doing  business  and  collecting  more  money,  and 
when  about  mid-afternoon  they  overheard  him  say 
that  he  was  going  to  ride  to  Barcelona  that  night, 
they  put  their  heads  together  and  whispered. 

The  young  man  was  a  fine,  handsome  fellow, 
barely  of  age,  and  was  none  other  than  Betty 
Walton's  youthful  lover,  Jack  Sanford.  The  old 
colonel  had  hoped  to  see  his  son  study  law,  and 
was  disappointed  when  he  developed  an  eminently 
practical  turn  and  a  great  liking  for  business. 
However,  when  Jack  declared  that  he  would  rather 
be  a  successful  merchant — and  he  believed  he 
could  be  in  time  —than  an  unsuccessful  lawyer, 
which  would  be  inevitable,  his  father  wisely  allowed 
him  to  follow  his  own  bent.  After  serving  two 
years  in  the  establishment  of  a  prominent  mer 
chant  of  Barcelona,  he  was  now  second  only  to 
the  head  clerk  in  importance  and  value,  having 
developed  uncommon  aptitude  for  the  business 
and  risen  rapidly.  An  absorbing  desire  to  marry 
Betty  Walton  as  soon  as  possible  was  unquestion 
ably  the  leading  inspiration  of  his  untiring  efforts, 
and  now  that  she  had  engaged  herself  to  him  he 
worked  harder  than  ever. 

During  the  past  year  it  had  been  his  practice  to 
spend  a  week  about  once  a  month  in  visiting  the 
smaller  towns  in  Malvern  and  one  or  two  neighbor 
ing  counties  in  order  to  solicit  orders  and  collect 
accounts,  and  this  was  his  present  business  in  Put 
nam.  The  vicious,  the  lazy,  and  incompetent  are 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  195 

prone  to  cherish  feelings  of  envy  and  malevolence 
toward  the  worthy,  the  intelligent,  and  industrious. 
When,  therefore,  Mamie-Lou  John  and  Riley  Martin 
saw  Jack  Sanford  counting  his  employer's  gains, 
they  asked  themselves  what  right  had  this  young 
white  man  to  all  that  money  when  they  had  none ; 
and,  as  they  meditated  their  dark  design,  their  only 
scruple  took  the  shape  of  the  fear  of  detection  and 
punishment.  They  resolved  to  act,  but  to  act 
warily. 

It  was  six  o'clock  before  Jack  Sanford  had  fin 
ished  his  business  and  was  ready  to  start.  He  had 
his  choice  between  going  to  an  hotel  or  the  house 
of  a  friend  for  the  night,  waiting  for  the  morrow  to 
start  home ;  but  he  did  neither,  preferring  to  take 
the  lonely  night  ride.  His  reasons  were  simple 
and  sound.  He  had  been  absent  five  days  and  felt 
that  almost  an  eternity  yawned  between  the  present 
and  his  last  glimpse  of  Betty,  and  if  he  went 
straight  home  without  loss  of  time,  he  knew  that 
he  could  see  her  the  same  night.  There  was  to  be 
a  ball  at  Barcelona,  and,  knowing  nothing  of  Mrs. 
Lawrence's  sudden  death,  he  counted  on  the  pres 
ence  of  Betty  among  the  dancers.  Without  push 
ing  his  horse  too  hard,  he  calculated  that  he  could 
reach  home  by  half-past  nine ;  by  half-past  ten,  or 
at  the  latest,  eleven,  he  could  present  himself  at 
the  ball,  and  even  though  her  card  should  prove  to 
be  taken  up,  he  could  at  least  see  Betty  in  her 
beautiful  evening  dress,  and  have  a  few  words  with 


196  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

her  between  dances.     The  ardent  lover  did  not  go 
over  all  this  twice  before  deciding  to  start. 

There  had  been  not  a  few  cases  of  murder  and 
robbery  within  his  recollection  on  lonely  roads  at 
night  in  Malvern  and  Richmond  counties,  but  as  he 
went  on  his  way  Jack  Sanford  did  not  recall  one 
of  them  or  think  of  a  possible  danger.  The  night 
was  clear  and  the  high-sailing  moon  rained  plenti 
ful  light  along  the  winding  road,  the  coarse,  heavy 
sand  of  which  glistened  here  and  there  with  the 
brilliancy  of  diamonds;  but  deep  shadow  envel 
oped  the  forests  of  pine  on  either  hand,  and  none 
could  know  what  evil  might  lurk  there.  Jack  did 
not  even  recall  with  a  sense  of  satisfaction  that  he 
had  taken  the  advice  of  friends  and  carried  a  pistol 
when  starting  on  his  tour;  his  mind  was  occupied 
by  a  single  picture,  —  that  of  Betty  whirling  grace 
fully  in  the  dance,  clothed  in  soft  garments  of  white, 
and  more  beautiful  than  the  watchful  moon-goddess 
herself. 

About  five  miles  from  Putnam,  at  a  turn  of  the 
road,  he  was  suddenly  aroused  from  his  absorbed 
contemplation  of  this  alluring  picture  by  a  flash  of 
red  light  only  a  few  feet  to  the  right  of  him,  and 
the  sound  of  a  pistol-shot  close  at  hand.  There 
was  no  time  to  draw  his  own  weapon  and  defend 
himself  or  put  spurs  to  his  horse  and  flee ;  a  second 
shot  immediately  followed  the  first,  and  by  the  time 
Jack  had  grasped  his  pistol  his  horse  had  plunged 
madly  forward  and  was  sinking  beneath  him. 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  197 

As  the  wounded  animal  went  down,  falling  heav 
ily  upon  its  side  and  pinning  its  rider  to  the  earth, 
two  dark  figures  materialized  at  the  borders  of  the 
road  and  leaped  upon  their  prey.  Jack's  pistol 
had  gone  off  at  random,  but  was  still  in  his  hand, 
and  he  strove  to  spring  to  his  feet  and  defend  him 
self.  While  struggling  frantically  to  withdraw  his 
leg  from  beneath  the  horse,  unable  to  rise  or  see 
his  assailants,  with  the  harrowing  thought  in  his 
mind  that  he  might  be  murdered  and  see  his  Betty 
no  more,  he  was  conscious  of  a  heavy  blow  on  the 
head  accompanied  by  a  sharp  intense  pain.  And 
then,  in  a  moment,  all  things  became  a  dark,  form 
less  waste  before  his  sight  and  before  his  mind. 

A  short  while  later  two  strangers  presented 
themselves  at  a  negro  cabin  on  the  same  road  and 
less  than  a  mile  from  the  scene.  One  of  them 
halted  to  drive  a  bloody  hatchet  into  the  gatepost, 
while  the  other  mounted  the  steps  and  knocked. 
An  old  man  opened  the  door,  and  a  middle-aged 
woman  and  a  young  man  just  grown  came  and 
looked  over  his  shoulder  at  the  visitors.  Mamie- 
Lou  and  Riley  announced,  with  every  appearance 
of  innocence,  that  they  were  walking  from  Barce 
lona  to  Putnam,  that  they  were  tired  and  cold  (the 
night  was  a  little  frosty),  and  asked  permission  to 
stop  and  rest  by  the  fire  for  half  an  hour. 

The  privilege  was  readily  granted,  and  they  were 
soon  warming  themselves  before  the  bright  pine- 
knot  fire  and  engaged  a  in  friendly  conversation 


198  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

with  the  old  man  and  his  son.  It  was  past  the  hour 
of  supper,  but  they  were  invited  to  help  themselves 
to  some  sweet  potatoes  which  had  just  been  raked 
out  of  the  hot  ashes,  and  did  not  fail  to  do  them 
full  justice.  Their  host  felt  that  politeness  forbade 
his  asking  questions,  but  he  permitted  himself  to 
inquire  what  "  mought  be "  his  visitors'  "  entitle 
ments,"  whereupon  Mamie-Lou  glibly  mentioned  a 
false  name  for  himself  and  another  for  Riley,  who 
looked  somewhat  disconcerted.  The  old  negro 
then  mentioned  that  his  own  name  was  Jerry  Carter^ 
and  his  son's  was  June.  In  the  course  of  their  con 
versation  he  also  stated  that  they  were  farming  for 
themselves  on  rented  land;  they  held  a  small 
eighty-acre  farm  belonging  to  Colonel  Sanford 
of  Barcelona,  and  were  on  good  terms  with  their 
landlord.  The  visitors,  as  they  were  from  Barce 
lona,  of  course  knew  who  Colonel  Sanford  was. 

"  Mister  Jack,  de  cun'l's  son,  stopped  by  yuh  to 
see  us  'bout  de  rent  yistiddy,"  said  old  Jerry, 
little  dreaming  that  his  two  visitors  had  heard  the 
last  sigh  of  the  young  white  man  named  within  the 
hour. 

After  warming  himself  thoroughly  and  eating  a 
couple  of  potatoes,  Riley  became  uneasy  and  rest 
less,  evidently  desiring  to  be  gone,  but  Mamie-Lou 
lingered,  laughing  and  joking  in  the  most  careless 
manner.  A  gold  ring  on  his  little  finger  attracted 
the  notice  of  old  Jerry  and  his  son,  the  latter  inquir 
ing  if  the  owner  would  sell  it.  Mamie-Lou  pre- 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  199 

tended  that  he  could  not  be  induced  to  part  with 
it,  but  presently  offered  it  for  the  sum  of  ten  dol 
lars,  and  finally  agreeing  to  accept  one  dollar  for  it, 
the  money  was  paid  and  the  ring  passed  to  its  new 
and  proud  owner.  This  business  completed,  the 
two  travellers  said  good-night  and  departed.  Had 
June  Carter  been  able  to  read,  he  would  doubtless 
have  inquired  what  was  the  meaning  of  the  name 
"  Betty,"  which  was  so  prettily  engraved  on  the 
inside  of  the  ring. 

It  was  near  nine  o'clock  when  the  murderers  left 
the  cabin  and  took  the  road  in  haste  for  Barce 
lona,  fifteen  miles  distant.  At  every  sound  they 
halted,  squatted  in  the  grass  by  the  roadside,  or 
hid  themselves  in  the  bushes  until  the  way  was 
clear.  The  first  five  miles  were  covered  within  less 
than  an  hour,  so  great  was  their  hurry,  but  after 
that  they  lagged  from  weariness,  having  been  on 
their  feet  all  day;  and  it  was  one  o'clock  when  they 
saw  the  lights  of  Barcelona.  Failure  to  make  a 
fair  division  of  the  spoils  was  a  fruitful  source  of 
angry  words  during  the  journey,  and  a  serious 
struggle  would  have  ensued  if,  at  the  last  moment, 
Mamie-Lou,  who  had  seized  the  money  in  the  first 
place,  had  not  come  to  terms  and  surrendered  to 
Riley  what  the  latter  regarded  as  his  rightful  share. 
Much  to  their  chagrin,  the  sum  of  twenty  dollars 
only  was  found  on  their  victim,  the  bulk  of  the 
collections  having  been  forwarded  by  express. 

The  sound   of  music  and  happy  young  voices 


200  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

arrested  their  attention  as  they  passed  through  the 
quiet  streets  of  the  town.  The  ball  at  which  Jack 
Sanford  had  expected  to  find  Betty  was  still  in 
progress,  but  some  of  its  gay  company  was  now 
going  home.  Riley  Martin's  impulse  was  to  slink 
away  in  the  night,  particularly  after  sighting  two 
policemen  at  the  door  of  the  "  opera  "  house;  but 
Mamie-Lou  John  walked  boldly  forward,  calling 
upon  him  to  follow.  The  latter  had  saved  his 
neck  from  the  halter  by  his  coolness  before,  and 
had  no  intention  of  letting  slip  so  good  an  oppor- 
tudity  as  this  to  secure  an  alibi. 

"  Quit  crowdin'  me,  nigger!"  shouted  Mamie- 
Lou,  giving  his  friend  a  rude  push,  as  they  stopped 
to  watch  some  half-dozen  couples  streaming  out 
into  the  night  air. 

Riley  took  the  cue  and  a  slight  struggle  ensued, 
attracting  the  attention  of  all.  The  crafty  Mamie- 
Lou  thus  succeeded  in  catching  the  eyes  of  several 
swallow-tailed  young  white  men  who  knew  him  by 
name. 

"  Go  on  off  from  here  right  straight,  or  you  '11 
git  locked  up,"  ordered  one  of  the  policemen,  after 
demanding  the  cause  of  their  presence  "  up  town  " 
at  that  hour  of  the  night. 

"  Who,  me?  "  shouted  Mamie-Lou,  with  a  guffaw. 
"  /  been  to  a  party."  And  off  they  went. 

As  they  separated  to  go  to  their  respective 
homes  in  the  Neck,  Riley  was  thus  cautioned  by 
his  more  talented  friend  :  "  If  you  know  what 's  good 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  201 

for  you,  you  git  up  soon  in  de  mornin'  an'  show 
yourself.  I  aim  to  be  up  town  by  daylight  myself, 
an'  stand  round  dat  fire  in  front  o'  'Liza  Simmons's." 

Riley  Martin  overslept,  but  his  energetic  friend, 
true  to  his  word,  not  only  exhibited  himself  on  the 
streets  at  an  early  hour  next  day,  but  figured 
among  the  crowd  which  pressed  forward  to  get  a 
glimpse  of  Jack  Sanford's  body  when  it  was 
brought  from  Putnam  on  the  midday  train,  and 
transferred  from  the  stretcher  to  the  waiting  coffin, 
amid  the  horror-stricken  whispers  of  the  spectators. 

Before  going  down  town  after  breakfast  that 
morning  Colonel  Sanford  spent  an  hour  looking 
through  his  mail,  which  consisted  of  several 
business  letters,  a  leading  Georgia  daily  news 
paper,  and  the  latest  issue  of  the  London  "  Satur 
day  Review."  The  letters  were  promptly  put  aside 
for  a  fuller  examination  later  on,  and  the  larger 
portion  of  the  hour  was  expended  on  the  news 
paper  and  the  periodical.  The  room  in  which 
he  sat  was  called  by  the  colonel's  daughter  the 
library,  by  his  wife  the  sitting-room,  and  by  the 
colonel  himself  his  "  home  office."  Its  most  pro 
nounced  feature  was  the  book-shelves  covering 
two-thirds  of  the  wall  space,  containing  the  rem 
nant  of  a  once  comparatively  extensive  library,  or 
such  a  portion  thereof  as  still  remained  after  years 
of  depredation  on  the  part  of  the  conscienceless, 
who  borrow  and  never  return. 

It  was  while  the  colonel  sat  tranquilly  reading 


202  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

in  this  student's  paradise  that  a  message  addressed 
to  him  came  over  the  wires  from  Putnam  and  was 
written  out  in  the  Barcelona  office.  Had  he  sat 
there  ten  minutes  longer  the  message,  which  was 
promptly  sent  out  for  delivery,  would  have  reached 
him  in  his  own  house,  but  the  sudden  recollection 
that  he  had  intended  to  call  at  the  stricken  Law 
rence  home  early  that  morning  caused  him  to  drop 
his  papers  and  hurry  off.  He  found  Betty  on  the 
Lawrence  piazza  and  sat  down  there  with  her,  ask 
ing  news  of  Reba. 

"  She  bears  it  as  well  as  could  be  expected," 
the  girl  told  him.  "It  is  very  hard  for  her;  she 
had  no  one  else  —  but  us." 

"Betty,  do  you  think  she  is  engaged  to  Rob 
Morton  ? "  asked  Colonel  Sanford,  thoughtfully. 
"  I  am  sure  he  loves  her,  and  if  he  had  spoken 
before  this  happened,  she  would  not  now  feel  so 
wretched  and  alone,  —  that  is,  if  she  loves  him." 
.  "  I  don't  think  they  can  be  engaged,"  said  Betty, 
quite  willing  to  tell  all  she  knew  to  her  prospec 
tive  father-in-law,  who  was  a  familiar  friend.  "  I 
think  she  likes  him,  but  I  am  not  sure.  She  is 
very  reticent." 

"  I  wish  we  could  have  seen  them  married  before 
this  happened,"  mused  the  colonel. 

While  they  were  still  talking,  a  negro  boy  opened 
the  gate  and  approached,  holding  a  small  yellow 
envelope  in  his  hand.  "  Dey  tole  me  dey  seen  you 
come  down  yuh,"  he  remarked,  delivering  it  to 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  203 

Colonel  Sanford.  The  boy  breathed  hard,  as  if  he 
had  been  running. 

Betty  saw  that  it  was  a  telegram  and  that  it  had 
already  been  opened.  As  Colonel  Sanford  un 
folded  it  and  absorbed  its  contents,  she  observed 
a  sudden  convulsive  movement  of  his  hands.  A 
glance  at  his  face  revealed  to  her  that  her  friend's 
soul  was  occupied  with  a  most  intense  anguish, 
and  without  waiting  to  be  bidden  she  bent  over 
and  read  the  message.  It  was  then  evident  that 
the  same  intense  anguish  occupied  her  own  soul. 
With  a  low,  broken  cry  she  fell  on  her  knees  and 
looked  up  frantically  into  the  colonel's  eyes.  A 
moment  later  they  were  clasped  in  each  other's 
arms,  each  uttering  inarticulate  murmurs  and 
desolate  sobs. 

"  Dey  tole  me  to  tell  you  to  come  dere,"  ven 
tured  the  negro  boy,  after  waiting  uneasily  during 
some  moments.  "  I  taken  de  message  to  yo' 
house  fust  an'  Mis'  Sanford  an'  all  of  'em  read  it, 
an'  when  I  was  comin'  'way,  Miss  Kate  she  run 
out  atter  me  an'  tole  me  to  go  fetch  you.  She  say 
please  hurry  up  an'  come  dere  right  straight,  her 
ma  'bout  to  go  deetracted." 

Colonel  Sanford  staggered  to  his  feet,  kissed 
Betty  on  the  forehead,  and  hurried  down  the  steps. 
Then  the  girl  turned  promptly  and  entered  the 
house,  putting  out  her  hands  before  her  as  if  to 
feel  her  way.  The  negro  boy  picked  up  the 
telegram  which  had  fallen  to  the  floor,  and  fol 
lowed  the  colonel  down  the  street. 


204  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

Miss  Black  was  standing  in  the  photographer's 
doorway  when  her  honored  friend  passed  by. 
She  offered  him  a  bright  smile,  but  he  did  not 
seem  to  see  her  at  all,  and  she  observed  that  he 
looked  ill  and  staggered  slightly  at  every  few  steps. 
She  involuntarily  stepped  into  the  street  and  looked 
after  him  anxiously;  observing  which,  the  negro 
boy,  who  still  followed,  stopped  and  gave  her  the 
telegram  to  read.  A  few  moments  later,  almost 
blinded  by  her  tears,  Miss  Black  was  asking  leave 
of  absence,  and  having  put  on  her  bonnet,  hurried 
away  in  the  direction  of  the  Sanford  home. 

A  Richmond  County  farmer,  starting  at  daylight 
for  Putnam,  had  discovered  the  body.  He  also 
observed  the  bloody  hatchet  sticking  in  Jerry 
Carter's  gate-post  and  leaped  to  a  conclusion, 
pausing  not  to  consider  that  such  thoughtlessness 
on  the  part  of  the  murderer  or  murderers  was 
incredible.  The  alarm  soon  spread.  While  the 
coroner  went  out  from  Putnam  and  took  charge  of 
the  body,  the  sheriff  and  a  posse  also  fared  forth 
and  led  the  old  negro  and  his  son  to  town,  regard 
less  of  the  screams  of  the  wife  and  mother  and  the 
reiterated  story  of  the  visit  of  the  two  strange 
negroes  the  night  before.  The  costly  ring  on  the 
finger  of  young  Carter  at  once  excited  increasing 
suspicion,  and,  it  being  presently  identified  by  a 
friend  of  Jack  Sanford,  the  public  mind  was  irrevo 
cably  made  up.  It  was  known  what  business  re- 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  205 

lation  existed  between  Colonel  Sanford  and  the 
Carters,  and  it  was  now  surmised  by  some  and  con 
cluded  by  others  that  Jack  had  been  murdered  and 
robbed  soon  after  collecting  the  rent. 

The  two  unhappy  negroes  were  forthwith 
lodged  in  jail,  and  it  was  soon  being  repeated  from 
mouth  to  mouth  that  nothing  short  of  lynching 
would  mete  out  to  them  a  full  measure  of  punish 
ment  and  satisfy  an  outraged  public. 

Toward  the  close  of  that  day,  which  was  so 
darkened  by  grief  and  tragedy  for  two  families  in 
the  town,  a  young  man  was  seen  moving  about  the 
streets  of  Barcelona,  stopping  here  and  there  and 
unfolding  a  written  paper  which  he  read  aloud  and 
then  handed  around  for  investigation.  The  young 
man  was  Sam  Thomas,  and,  as  a  rule,  he  showed 
his  document,  which  evidently  excited  great  inter 
est,  to  men  of  his  own  age  and  such  as  he  thought 
suited  to  the  business  in  hand. 

At  length,  while  standing  in  conversation  with 
four  or  five  young  men,  Thomas  saw  Robert 
Morton  approaching,  and,  without  giving  any 
reason  therefor,  he  surprised  his  companions  by 
abruptly  folding  up  the  paper  and  putting  it  into 
his  pocket. 

"  I  'm  looking  for  somebody  to  sit  up  with  me 
at  Colonel  Sanford's  to-night,"  said  Morton,  his 
eye  travelling  round  the  group. 

"  I  heard  John  Wellington  and  Gordon  Marshall 


206  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

say  they  were  goin'  to  offer,"  remarked  one  of  the 
young  men  by  way  of  rejoinder. 

"  Do  you  know  where  they  are?  "  asked  Morton, 
about  to  move  on. 

Some  one  answered,  and  the  first  who  had 
spoken  detained  Morton  with  the  question :  — 

"  By  the  way,  has  Bob  seen  it?  " 

"What?" 

"  That  letter  from  the  boys  in  Putnam.  Show 
it  to  him,  Sam.  A  friend  of  Sam's  sent  it  over." 

Sam  Thomas  then  produced  the  paper,  and 
unfolding  it  gave  it  to  Morton  without  remark. 
It  ran  thus :  — 

PUTNAM,  GEORGIA,  Dec.  10,  188-. 

If  any  friends  of  Mr.  Jack  Sanford  would  like  to  join 
us  in  a  neck-tie  party,  come  over  to-night  on  the  ten 
o'clock  train  and  we  will  meet  you.  We  will  have  every 
thing  arranged.  Feeling  runs  high  and  we  are  going  to 
do  it  up  brown. 

HEMP. 

"  Well,  boys,"  said  Morton  very  gravely,  as  he 
folded  the  letter  and  returned  it  to  its  owner,  "  I 
don't  know  who 's  going  and  who  is  n't,  and  I  'm 
not  going  to  ask.  It  is  none  of  my  business.  But 
I  want  to  tell  you  what  Colonel  Sanford  said  to 
me  not  half  an  hour  ago.  He  said,  if  I  heard 
any  talk  of  lynching,  to  say  —  from  him — that  he 
would  not  countenance  ity  and  he  hoped  his  wishes 
would  be  respected  in  the  matter.  He  said  he 
begged  the  young  men  of  this  town  not  to  add  to 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  207 

his  misery  by  lynching  two  negroes  who  possibly 
may  prove  to  be  innocent  of  the  murder  of  his 
son." 

"  Well,  if  the  colonel  feels  that  way,  of  course  —  " 
began  one  of  the  young  men,  evidently  moved  by 
this  appeal. 

"  He  won't  feel  that  way  a  month  from  now," 
interrupted  Sam  Thomas.  "  Of  course  he 's  all 
broke  up  to-day." 

"  I  wish  you  boys  would  mention  to  everybody 
what  the  colonel  says  about  it,"  concluded  Morton, 
decisively,  omitting  Thomas  as  his  eye  went  round 
the  circle.  He  then  moved  on  his  way,  the  others 
lingering  to  discuss  the  matter  further. 

The  message  of  the  stricken  father  was  not  with 
out  its  effect  on  a  number.  Nevertheless  a  small 
contingent  made  ready,  went  over  on  the  ten- 
o'clock  train  and  joined  the  Putnam  forces,  and  the 
"  neck-tie  party  "  took  place  in  due  course.  Jerry 
Carter's  gray  hairs,  his  frantic  prayers  and  pro 
testations  of  innocence,  and  the  bare  possibility  of 
a  doubt,  induced  the  lynchers  to  spare  him.  The 
next  morning  it  was  known  that  he  had  been  left 
in  the  jail  to  stand  his  trial,  but  that  his  son  hung 
by  the  neck  close  to  the  spot  where  Jack  Sanford 
had  heaved  his  last  sigh,  and  that  the  bereft 
wife  and  mother  went  about  from  place  to  place, 
wailing  piteously  and  seeking  comfort  where  there 
there  was  none. 


XIV. 

THOSE  were  sad  days  which  succeeded  in  three 
households  of  Barcelona.  Colonel  Sanford  was  not 
a  man  to  surrender  himself  to  grief  and  helplessly 
deplore  the  calamity  which  had  befallen  his  house, 
—  a  hopeful  striving  to  recognize  a  Providence 
in  all  the  events  of  life  being  with  him  a  leading 
characteristic.  Nevertheless  the  loss  of  an  only 
son  in  such  an  unforeseen  and  horrible  manner  was 
a  crushing  blow.  He  staggered  beneath  the  weight 
of  it,  but  did  not  fall.  He  alone  in  his  family 
maintained  a  composure,  and  he  outdid  his  minis 
tering  friends  in  devising  means  of  diverting  his 
stricken  wife  and  daughters  when  in  the  first  ago 
nies  of  their  grief.  The  news  of  the  unlawful  exe 
cution  of  the  suspected  murderer,  which  reached 
him  promptly,  so  far  from  gratifying  or  comforting 
him,  caused  his  face  to  contract  in  pain  as  the  fear 
fell  on  him  that  innocence  might  have  been  offered 
up  in  the  stead  of  the  guilty,  in  which  case  the 
latter  was  now  escaped  beyond  detection. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  209 

"  They  ought  to  have  listened  to  me,"  he  said 
wearily  to  Morton.  "  They  assumed  a  fearful  re 
sponsibility  and  may  live  to  rue  their  action.  In 
any  case,  it  was  unnecessary,  and  therefore  wholly 
unjustifiable." 

The  other  two  stricken  households  were  now 
merged  into  one.  The  Lawrence  house  was  shut 
up,  Reba  having  been  induced  to  go  to  her  aunt's, 
where  a  double  grief  now  reigned,  the  poignancy 
of  the  one,  however,  perhaps  in  a  measure  softened 
through  sympathy  with  the  other.  On  the  day 
after  the  second  funeral  Mrs.  Brown  gave  a  touch 
ing  account  of  the  two  girls,  her  minister  having 
called. 

"  They  don't  do  nothin',"  she  tearfully  asserted, 
"but  sit  and  cry  and  put  their  arms  round  one 
'n  other,  and  then  talk  a  little  and  then  cry  again." 

But  it  was  not  all  crying.  Now  and  then  they 
spoke  hopefully  of  the  future  state  of  the  mother 
and  lover,  of  their  probable  meeting,  which  had  per 
haps  already  taken  place,  and  of  their  life  in  that 
new,  super-material  world  which  is  a  logical  and 
necessary  complement  of  the  wondrous  miracle 
of  creation  already  visible  to  our  natural  eyes. 
Overhearing  this,  Mrs.  Brown's  own  heart  was  mo 
mentarily  eased  of  much  pain,  but  she  shook  her 
head  doubtfully  as  she  recalled  the  teachings  of  her 
minister,  with  which  such  ideas  did  not  agree. 
Calling  in  order  to  give  her  consolation,  he  had 
told  her  that  the  precious  dead  for  which  they 

14 


210  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

mourned  would  sleep  until  the  last  day,  which 
might  be  a  thousand  or  a  million  years  hence,  — 
nobody  knew,  —  and  that  finally  the  dissipated  body 
would  again  clothe  the  awakening  spirit  and  the 
dead  would  live  again.  To  further  comfort  her,  he 
stated,  in  substance,  that  it  was  the  opinion  of  some 
that  the  bodiless  spirit  floated  about  in  the  air,  or 
ether,  in  a  state  of  partial  or  full  consciousness, 
waiting,  waiting,  through  the  interminable  cycles  of 
time  for  that  deliverance  supposed  to  arrive  only 
after  re-conjunction  with  the  vanished  body. 

This  picture  of  exquisite  torture  had  been 
painted  for  the  two  sorrowing  girls  also  in  former 
days,  but  they  now  refused  to  contemplate  it; 
with  the  unperverted  perception  of  hopeful  youth, 
they  preferred  to  remember  the  visions  of  poets, 
and  such  applicable  portions  of  Holy  Writ  as  lived 
in  their  memory.  The  "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with 
me  in  paradise,"  from  the  Lord's  own  mouth,  was 
to  them  an  unfailing  beam  of  light  transpiercing 
their  cloud  of  sorrow  and  pain. 

But  at  the  end  of  three  weeks  they  both  looked 
wasted  and  thin,  and  Mrs.  Brown  decided  that 
something  must  be  done  for  them.  She  consulted 
with  her  husband,  and  it  was  proposed  to  send  them 
to  visit  a  relative  who  lived  in  Chatham  County,  by 
the  sea,  a  change  of  scene  being  always  the  best 
of  medicines.  After  some  coaxing  they  agreed  to 
go,  and  Mrs.  Brown  hurried  them  off.  Thus,  by  a 
few  weeks  spent  on  a  rice  plantation  by  the  unfa- 


THE  SONS   OF  PI  AM.  211 

miliar  sea,  were  they  in  a  measure  diverted  from 
their  sorrows,  returning  home  much  the  gainers  in 
health  of  body  and  cheerfulness  of  mind. 

While  they  were  away  Reba  received  a  letter 
which  brought  sudden  bright  color  into  her  pale 
cheeks.  She  was  walking  alone  on  the  sands, 
looking  wistfully  out  over  the  quivering  yellow 
marshes  and  the  blue  leaping  ocean,  when  a  negro 
boy  attached  to  the  house  ran  toward  her  with  a 
sealed  missive  bearing  the  Barcelona  post-mark. 
She  knew  the  chirography  at  a  glance,  having  re 
ceived  a  number  of  brief  notes  in  the  same  hand 
asking  the  "  pleasure  of  her  company"  at  a  ball  or 
for  an  afternoon  drive.  As  soon  as  she  was  alone 
Reba  read  this  important  letter,  reread  it,  and  then 
prolonged  her  walk  far  beyond  the  limits  first  pro 
posed,  seeing  always  wherever  she  looked,  out  over 
the  marshes  or  the  sea,  one  image,  —  the  young 
man  of  the  sallow  face,  the  square  jaw,  and  the 
haunting  eyes. 

"  I  have  just  heard  of  your  departure,"  he  wrote, 
"  and  not  knowing  when  you  may  return,  or  what 
may  happen,  I  am  unable  to  resist  my  desire  to 
communicate  with  you.  I  longed  to  go  to  you 
•immediately  after  your  great  loss,  but  felt  that  I 
had  not  the  right,  and  since  then  I  have  been  wait 
ing,  not  with  the  patience  of  a  philosopher,  but 
with  the  doubts  and  fears  of  an  unhappy  lover, 
until  such  time  as  I  could  approach  you  without 
intruding  upon  your  grief.  I  think  you  must  have 


212  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

seen  long  ago  that  I  cared  for  no  one  but  you. 
For  two  years  past  the  greatest  and  most  constant 
ambition  of  my  life  has  been  to  make  you  my  wife, 
and  it  is  my  steadfast  purpose  to  win  your  love  if 
that  be  possible.  I  know  not  how  to  plead  my 
case,  how  even  to  express  my  feelings,  but  there  is 
one  thing  I  know,  and  that  is  that  I  love  you.  I 
have  absolutely  no  reason  to  hope  that  you  will 
ever  return  my  love,  and  I  tremble  to  think  of  what 
your  answer  may  be,  but  I  know  that  you  will  be 
considerate  and  kind  if  you  cannot  love.  For  the 
present  all  I  ask  is  that  you  give  me  time  and 
opportunity  in  which  to  try  to  win  you." 

By  way  of  postscript,  the  following  was  written : 
"  I  asked  your  mother's  permission  to  address  you, 
and  it  was  granted." 

To  this  simple,  manly  love-letter  a  brief  answer 
was  despatched  a  day  or  two  later.  "  I  thank  you 
for  the  great  compliment  involved  in  your  letter," 
Reba  wrote.  "  In  reply  I  can  only  say  that  no 
woman  is  ever  unwilling  to  give  '  time  and  oppor 
tunity'  to  a  man  whom  she  respects  and  has  no 
reason  to  dislike.  When  we  return,  in  a  few  weeks, 
my  cousin  and  I  will  be  pleased  to  receive  you  at 
my  aunt's." 

The  encouragement  that  could  be  read  into  these 
lines  was  certainly  of  a  very  moderate  nature  and 
there  was  little  to  build  real  hope  upon,  but  the 
young  man  to  whom  they  were  addressed  was 
made  almost  deliriously  happy  on  reading  them. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  213 

To  him  they  meant  at  the  very  least  that  no  other 
man  was  preferred.  Betty  had  ere  this  made  up 
her  mind  that  her  cousin  loved  Morton.  Suppos 
ing  there  were  reasonable  grounds  for  this  conclu 
sion,  the  cause  of  Reba's  epistolary  impassivity 
and  reserve,  her  manifest  determination  to  keep 
her  lover  in  suspense  until  a  future  season,  must 
be  sought  for  in  the  mysterious  and  inexplicable 
operations  of  the  feminine  mind. 

On  the  day  after  the  two  girls  returned  home, 
Mrs.  Blossom  and  her  maid  appeared  unexpect 
edly  in  Barcelona.  The  Philadelphia  lady  ex 
plained  to  her  niece  that  homesickness  had  cut 
short  her  stay  in  Jamaica.  As  long  as  her  nephew, 
Paul  Shepherd,  had  remained  at  Kingston,  every 
thing  had  pleased  her,  she  declared,  but  later  on, 
when  loneliness  began  to  prey  upon  her,  every 
thing  became  equally  displeasing.  A  Christmas 
enlivened  only  by  the  remarks  of  her  maid  and 
the  nods  of  a  few  acquaintances  when  she  drove 
out,  was  the  finishing  touch  to  the  dreary  picture, 
and  she  had  determined  to  pack  up  at  once  and 
take  all  the  risks  of  the  Northern  winter  and 
spring.  The  weather  happened  to  be  particularly 
fine  when  she  halted  to  rest  in  Barcelona,  and  her 
proposed  stay  of  a  day  or  two  was  prolonged  to 
two  weeks,  during  which  time  she  several  times 
came  in  contact  with  Reba  and  Betty,  who  were 
now  Miss  Black's  acknowledged  friends.  Toward 
the  last  she  twice  took  Reba  and  her  niece  driving. 


214  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

Her  interest  in  the  former  steadily  increased,  and  she 
soon  determined  to  act  on  her  nephew's  suggestion 
and  invite  the  girl  to  visit  her  in  Philadelphia. 

"  I  want  her  on  my  own  account  as  well  as  on 
Paul's,"  she  said  to  her  niece.  "  I  am  fond  of  her 
already.  Really  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  a 
girl  could  grow  up  so  refined  and  well-bred,  and 
be  in  every  way  so  lovely,  in  the  midst  of  such 
poverty  as  you  say  was  hers." 

"  '  Blood  will  tell/  perhaps,  as  people  say  here," 
suggested  Miss  Black.  "  It  is  considered  a  fine 
family,  and  her  mother  was  said  to  have  many 
accomplishments." 

"  Sometimes  it  *  tells/  and  again  it  does  n't,"  re 
joined  Mrs.  Blossom,  stroking  her  prominent  nose 
and  reflecting.  She  was  hardly  to  be  called  a 
handsome  woman,  although  distinguished  by  a 
strong  and  pleasing  presence. 

"  Paul  does  n't  care  for  ordinary  society  life  in 
the  least,"  she  continued.  "  He  actually  shuns  it. 
He  has  n't  shown  himself  at  an  Assembly  ball  in 
years.  But  I  could  see  that  he  was  unusually 
interested  in  this  girl.  It  was  n't  her  mere  beauty, 
I  'm  sure.  I  should  like  to  see  him  marry  a  girl 
of  the  right  sort,  and  Miss  Lawrence  impresses  me 
favorably." 

"  He  would  be  lucky  to  get  her,"  declared  Miss 
Black,  so  irreverently  that  her  aunt  was  filled  with 
indignation.  They  were  alone  in  the  photogra 
pher's  little  parlor,  Miss  Black  at  work  examining 


THE  SONS ,  OF  HAM.  215 

newly  mounted  portraits,  and  Mrs.  Blossom  stand 
ing  near  the  street  door,  looking  out. 

"  She  ought  to  go  now,  with  me,"  the  latter 
continued  presently.  "  She  needs  a  change.  But 
what  could  I  do  with  her,  socially,  so  soon  after 
her  mother's  death?  However,  she  would  be 
there  during  Lent." 

"  She  is  n't  wearing  mourning,"  said  Miss  Black. 

"By  the  way,  I  noticed  that.  It  is  n't  possible 
that  she  does  n't  know  any  better !  " 

"  Mr.  Lawrence  objected  to  it,  I  believe." 

t(  How  foolish  !     What  were  his  reasons,  pray  ?  " 

"  I  heard  that  he  said  it  was  the  very  essence  of 
vulgarity  to  be  continually  holding  up  a  sacred 
private  grief  to  the  view  of  the  public,  and  that  is 
what  mourning  apparel  does." 

"  Well,  upon  my  word,  I  never  thought  of  it  in 
that  light  before,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Blossom,  almost 
as  if  indignant  that  such  an  idea  had  heretofore 
been  withheld  from  her. 

Miss  Black  added  that  Miss  Walton  was  her 
authority,  she  having  reported  that  her  uncle  had 
requested  his  wife  and  daughter  not  to  wear  mourn 
ing  for  him.  He  said  the  practice  had  come  down 
from  the  ancient  Pagan  world,  and  was  in  its  very 
nature  more  Pagan  than  Christian.  The  true 
Christian  being  supposed  to  believe  in  a  blessed 
future  state,  nothing  but  the  most  consummate 
selfishness,  or  the  most  absolute  unbelief,  could 
justify  him  in  mourning  indefinitely  for  the  de- 


216  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

parted  friend.  Mrs.  Blossom  remarked  that  all 
this  sounded  very  well,  but  she  desired  to  be  told 
how  any  respectable  person  was  to  carry  out  such 
an  idea  in  the  face  of  established  custom. 

"  I  want  to  see  more  of  these  new  friends  of 
yours  whom  you  have  elected  to  love  so  much," 
she  had  said  to  her  niece  on  the  day  after  her 
arrival,  —  "  not  only  Miss  Lawrence  and  her  cousin, 
but  this  Colonel  Sanford,  and  especially  that  young 
—  Morton?  —  that  knight  of  yours.  Francie,"  she 
boldly  demanded,  "  are  you  engaged  to  him?" 

"  Why,  Aunt  Mildred !  "  exclaimed  Miss  Black, 
with  heightened  color.  "  Did  you  think  that  was 
the  reason  he  acted  as  he  did  when  I  first  came 
here  and  had  no  friends?  I  scarcely  know  him. 
He  never  calls  on  me." 

"Oh?  Then  I  misjudged  you,  Francie,  and 
failed  to  give  him  his  due.  So,  then,  your  '  eyes 
are  opened/  and  you  sympathize  with  the  poor 
white  brother,  and  not  with  the  '  poor  negro/  con 
trary  to  prevailing  sentiment  and  tradition?" 

"  Exactly." 

"  Well,  I  can't  say  that  I  am  personally  fond  of 
the  *  poor  negro  '  myself.  He  positively  sickened 
me  in  the  West  Indies.  I  'm  glad  enough  that 
one-half  the  population  of  Philadelphia  is  not 
black." 

A  few  days  later  her  curiosity  was  satisfied.  She 
contrived  to  have  Morton  presented  to  her,  and 
engaged  him  in  conversation  for  half  an  hour. 


THE  SOWS  OF  HAM.  217 

"  He  may  be  an  excellent  young  man,"  she  told 
her  niece  afterwards,  "  but  he  is  too  stiff,  or  too 
haughty,  or  something.  He  needs  social  training. 
How  sallow  he  is !  But  for  those  strange,  those 
really  beautiful  eyes,  he  would  be  positively  ugly. 
If  he  only  looked  more  like  Paul.  He  is  insigni 
ficant  in  comparison." 

At  this  point  of  the  discussion  Miss  Black's  lip 
curled,  to  the  intense  indignation  of  her  aunt. 
Colonel  Sanford  would  have  laughingly  quoted 
"  De  gustibus,"  etc.,  and  Mrs.  Blossom  herself  would 
have  lightly  said,  "  Chacun  d  son  gout;  "  but  Miss 
Black  allowed  her  lip  to  lift  itself  in  scorn,  disdain 
ing  words. 

"  I  really  believe  you  consider  him  a  finer  type 
than  Paul !  "  exclaimed  the  elder  lady,  critically 
surveying  her  niece. 

"  I  do,"  said  Miss  Black,  boldly  taking  the  bit 
between  her  teeth;  whereupon  her  aunt's  wrath 
waxed  so  hot  that  she  would  not  trust  herself  to 
speak.  It  was  evident  that  her  nephew  was  her 
idol.  The  two  ladies  were  driving  at  the  time,  a 
week  after  Mrs.  Blossom's  arrival. 

"  How  I  enjoyed  those  rides  I  used  to  take 
through  these  pine-woods,"  said  Miss  Black  anon, 
breaking  the  silence.  "  I  never  go  now." 

"  I  should  suppose  so." 

A  few  minutes  later,  turning  a  bend  of  the  road, 
they  came  suddenly  upon  a  phaeton  driven  by 
Robert  Morton.  At  his  side  sat  Reba,  her  face 


218  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

alive  with  color,  and  in  her  hands  a  cluster  of  the 
beautiful  bell-like  yellow  jessamines  now  just 
beginning  to  put  forth  and  perfume  the  woods. 
Mrs.  Blossom  forgot  her  annoyance,  so  charmed 
was  she  by  the  vision  of  happy  youth  which  the 
two  presented.  Had  she  known  of  the  letters 
which  they  exchanged  a  few  weeks  before,  she 
would  have  readily  comprehended  that  they  had 
now  come  to  a  full  understanding  and  pledged 
themselves  to  each  other;  for  their  faces  were 
suffused  with  a  soft  glow,  and  a  tender,  indescriba 
ble  light  shone  in  their  eyes.  Even  without  know 
ing  anything  of  this,  she  was  struck  by  the 
atmosphere  of  peace  and  happiness  which  seemed 
to  surround  them. 

"They  look  like  lovers,"  she  remarked,  with 
surprise,  after  Reba  had  bowed  and  smiled,  Morton 
had  lifted  his  hat,  and  the  phaeton  had  passed  them. 

"  Perhaps  they  are,"  was  Miss  Black's  slightly 
constrained  answer. 

"  I  shall  invite  her  to  visit  me  anyhow,"  Mrs. 
Blossom  continued,  after  a  moment's  reflection. 
"  It  may  not  have  gone  very  far  yet,  and  if  Paul 
should  really  fancy  her  she  will  think  twice  before 
she  refuses  him  for  a  young  man  who  has  nothing 
in  the  world." 

"  She  will  not  think  twice  if  she  knows  and  loves 
Mr.  Morton,"  said  Miss  Black,  with  decision. 
"  His  poverty  will  be  the  last  thing  she  will  think 
of." 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  219 

"  You  are  as  perverse  and  foolish  as  your 
mother  was  before  you,"  declared  the  elder  lady, 
severely.  "  She  lost  her  head  about  a  penniless 
young  man,  and  as  a  result  of  it  her  daughter  is 
now  a  working-girl  in  a  photographer's  shop.  I 
had  more  wisdom." 

"  My  mother  has  never  known  actual  want,  and 
she  has  been  a  happy  woman  ever  since  her  mar 
riage,"  said  Miss  Black,  with  flashing  eyes.  "  I  'd 
far  rather  be  a  '  working-girl '  and  know  that  she 
tenderly  loved  my  honored  father,  than  to  be  rich 
and  know  that  they  hated  each  other." 

"  What  do  you  mean?"  exclaimed  the  elder  lady, 
looking  round  sharply. 

But  a  record  of  the  family  quarrels,  misunder 
standings,  or  mistakes,  with  which  these  two  women 
were  concerned,  of  a  marriage  of  outward  ease  and 
inward  heart-burning  and  regret  on  the  one  hand, 
and  another  distinguished  by  much  external  hard 
ship  and  interior  happiness,  is  not  within  the  scope 
of  this  brief  tale. 

"  Really,  Francie,"  said  Mrs.  Blossom,  returning 
to  the  subject  of  Morton,  as  they  were  on  their 
way  home,  "  I  'd  advise  you  to  be  careful.  It  is 
unwise  for  a  girl  to  allow  her  thoughts  to  dwell  on 
a  young  man  who  pays  her  no  particular  atten 
tions." 

This  thrust  caused  Miss  Black  to  bite  her  lip 
and  answer  haughtily:  "Do  not  be  alarmed.  I 
shall  be  able  to  take  care  of  myself." 


220  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

The  invitation  was  given  and  pressed,  but  for 
the  present,  at  least,  was  declined.  Reba  felt  that 
the  eccentric  Northern  lady,  whose  liking  she  re 
turned,  really  wished  her  to  go,  and  did  not  dismiss 
the  matter  as  a  mere  compliment.  She  showed  a 
due  appreciation  of  such  unexpected  kindness,  and 
readily  agreed  to  the  proposal  of  a  correspondence 
until  such  time  as  she  might  desire  to  accept  the 
invitation.  The  recent  death  of  her  mother,  and 
the  fact  that  she  was  without  money  would  have 
been  sufficient  ground  for  her  decision,  but  this 
was  not  all.  Having  of  late  entered  upon  a  new 
and  great  happiness,  which  any  indefinite  absence 
from  home  would  seriously  mar,  she  felt  no  desire 
to  leave  Barcelona.  And  so  her  new  friend  went 
North  without  her. 


XV. 


THE  January  election  of  municipal  officers  was 
a  season  of  no  little  excitement  in  Barcelona,  and 
the  struggle  for  the  office  of  mayor  especially  was 
hard  fought  and  productive  of  animosity  between 
the  adherents  of  opposing  candidates.  There  being 
less  than  half  a  dozen  white  Republicans  in  the 
town,  and  the  white  voters  possessing  a  safe  major 
ity,  the  negroes  did  not  put  forward  a  candidate, 
and  as  there  were  two  opposing  Democratic  fac 
tions,  the  blacks  for  the  most  part  sold  their  votes 
to  the  highest  bidder,  possibly  arguing  that,  the 
office  being  beyond  their  reach,  it  was  only  fair 
that  they  should  have  a  share  of  the  salary. 

Thus  the  negro  practically  holds  the  balance  of 
power  in  local  elections.  But  unfortunately  it  never 
seems  to  occur  to  him  to  use  it  in  the  interest  of 
good  government.  The  prospect  of  personal  gain 
appears  to  occupy  his  whole  attention.  The  can 
didate  who,  through  his  close  friends,  will  pay  the 
highest  price  for  the  services  of  a  dozen  of  the 
most  experienced  black  "  workers,"  will  control 


222  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

the  election.  As  for  the  rank  and  file  —  give  a 
negro  a  pint  of  whiskey,  or  send  him  to  the  polling- 
place  in  a  carriage,  and  his  vote  is  secured.  Still, 
there  is  usually  some  room  left  for  the  display  of 
demagoguery,  and  the  more  shameless  of  the  two 
candidates  always  poses  as  the  especial  friend  of 
the  black  man. 

Adam  Brown  did  not  scruple  to  appear  in  this 
r61e,  he  being  a  candidate  for  re-election.  Opposed 
to  him  was  the  best  element  of  the  town,  with  a 
really  respectable  candidate,— one  Harvey,  a  lawyer 
of  ability  and  known  integrity;  but  intelligence, 
ability,  and  integrity  unfortunately  appeal  only  to 
the  intelligent  and  upright,  and  are  everywhere 
derided  by  those  free  American  sovereigns  who 
offer  their  votes  for  sale.  Such  qualities  are  espe 
cially  useless  when  the  contest  is  complicated,  it 
should  rather  be  said  debauched,  by  the  partici 
pation  of  a  horde  of  ignorant  and  venal  blacks, 
whose  thoughts  and  aspirations  are  apparently 
scarcely  able  to  rise  above  the  mere  bodily  senses 
and  appetites.  Adam  Brown  had  indeed  a  white 
following  among  the  less  intelligent  class,  and 
among  his  familiars  and  beneficiaries,  but  without 
the  cajoled  and  purchased  vote  of  the  vast  majority 
of  the  blacks  his  election  would  not  have  been  even 
remotely  possible. 

As  the  circumstances  were,  it  was  certain  from 
the  outset.  All  day  long  his  hired  carriages  were 
driven  through  the  streets,  loaded  with  semi-tipsy 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  223 

and  wholly  senseless  negroes,  monarchs  for  a 
day,  going  in  state  to  deposit  a  purchased  ballot. 
Everywhere  his  "  workers  "  were  active.  Here  a 
grinning,  dusky  sovereign,  with  a  ballot  upside 
down  between  his  fingers  and  a  pint  of  whiskey  in 
his  pocket , —  if  not  already  in  his  stomach,  —  was 
led  forward  by  the  arm.  There  another,  who  had 
greedily  sold  himself  to  both  sides,  was  paying  the 
penalty  of  a  public  exposure,  an  opposing  "  worker  " 
grasping  each  arm  and  dragging  him  back  and 
forth  with  loud  and  abusive  wrangling.  As  neither 
would  be  disposed  to  surrender,  the  only  equitable 
arrangement  which  could  suggest  itself  to  an  im 
partial  observer  was  to  divide  the  guilty  sovereign 
in  two,  and  vote  each  half.  If  not  this,  one  contes 
tant  must  knock  the  other  down  and  bolt  with  the 
prize;  and  indeed  such  developments  were  more 
than  once  imminent,  when  the  appearance  of  the 
police  would  put  an  end  to  the  struggle.  The 
saloons  were  all  shut  according  to  law,  but  the 
mayor's  whiskey  had  been  purchased  in  advance, 
stowed  away  at  unseen  and  convenient  distributing 
points,  and  now  flowed  freely  among  the  happy 
darkies,  who  shouted,  "  Hurrah  for  Brown  !  "  until 
the  surrounding  atmosphere  was  permeated  with  a 
perceptible  flavor  of  alcohol.  The  opposition,  the 
friends  of  candidate  Harvey,  made  a  determined 
effort,  some  of  them  indeed  succumbing  to  the  gen 
eral  demoralization  to  the  extent  of  making  a  few 
indirect  bids  for  the  votes  of  the  blacks;  but  on 


224  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

the  whole  they  were  the  sort  of  men  who  will  sur 
render  before  they  will  stoop  too  low,  and  the  result 
was  inevitable. 

Among  the  more  quiet  negroes  who  stood  about 
the  court-house  square  in  small  groups  and  con 
versed,  Parson  Smith  and  Professor  Brice  were 
conspicuous.  The  parson  had  been  easily  and 
speedily  corrupted,  but  the  professor  obstinately 
refused  to  entertain  the  overtures  of  the  Brown 
forces,  much  to  their  astonishment  and  disgust. 
His  attitude  was  partly  due  to  his  superior  knowl 
edge  and  character,  and  partly  to  the  influence  of 
Colonel  Sanford.  In  all  matters  social  and  political, 
with  the  exception  of  questions  involved  in  national 
elections,  the  professor  sought  instruction  from 
his  honored  white  friend,  and  was  a  willing  pupil. 
Only  a  few  days  since  they  had  discussed  the  com 
ing  election,  and  Colonel  Sanford  had  eloquently 
urged  it  as  the  duty  of  every  good  citizen  to  sup 
port  the  most  worthy  and  capable  candidate,  re 
gardless  of  party,  of  reward,  or  the  fear  of  censure. 
The  professor  had  not  failed  to  be  impressed,  and 
being  sufficiently  astute  to  perceive  that  Brown's 
protestations  of  especial  friendship  for  the  negro 
were  hollow  and  insincere,  he  determined  on  the 
course  above  indicated. 

"  Who  you  goin'  vote  for,  Mr.  Smith?"  asked  a 
young  black  man,  as  he  joined  the  group  sur 
rounding  the  parson  and  the  schoolmaster. 

"  Well,  I  think  I  '11  vote  for  Mr.  Brown/'  said  his 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  225 

Reverence,  unconsciously  smacking  his  lips  at  the 
recollection  of  a  recent  dram.  "  I  ain't  got  nothin* 
against  him,  an'  they  tell  me  he  's  the  friend  o'  the 
po'  man  an'  the  cullud  man." 

"Yas-sir!  he's  de  man  to  vote  for,"  cried  the 
first  speaker,  with  enthusiasm.  "  He  willin'  to  pay 
for  it,  you  see  him  so.  He  got  de  money  an'  he 
willin'  to  pay  it  out.  I  done  voted,  merself.  I 
wish  I  could  vote  'bout  six  times  mo'.  I  'd  be  will- 
in'  to  vote  eve'y  day  in  de  week  if  dey  pay  me." 

"  He  ain't  the  friend  o'  the  colored  man  any  mo'  'n 
Harvey  is  —  not  one  bit,"  said  the  professor,  stub 
bornly.  "  You  listen  at  all  that !  Neither  one  o' 
'em  is  the  friend  o'  the  colored  man.  Colonel 
Sanford  the  best  friend  the  colored  man  got  I  know 
of,  —  he  don't  tell  us  no  lies.  Adam  Brown  make 
out  like  he  do  anything  for  us  to-day,  but  jes'  wait 
tell  to-morrow." 

"  Den  you  won't  vote  for  him?  " 

"I  voted  for  Harvey — if  you  want  to  know. 
An'  I  '11  tell  you  why :  I  done  it  because  he  's  got 
the  most  sense  an'  the  most  education,  an'  I  believe 
he  's  the  most  apt  to  do  the  right  thing  for  white 
an'  for  black.  I  'd  ruther  trust  him.  You  don't 
see  him  rushin'  round  makin'  us  promises  he  don't 
aim  to  perform.  That  shows  he  's  honest.  Adam 
Brown  can't  pull  the  wool  over  my  eyes  as  easy  as 
he  can  some  niggers." 

"  Sorry  to  see  you  so  sot  in  yo'  mind,  Brother 
Brice,"  said  the  parson,  shaking  his  head  in  dis- 

15 


226  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

approval.  "  Colonel  Sanford  a  nice  man,  I  don't 
dispute  it,  but  it  won't  do  to  let  him  'suade  you 
too  fur." 

"  I  ruther  be  persuaded  by  common-sense  'n  by 
boodle,"  retorted  the  professor. 

"  Wut  's  dat?  "  asked  one  of  the  by-standers. 

"  Some  call  it  whiskey,  some  call  it  spondulix," 
was  the  quick  response ;  whereupon  there  was  a 
laugh  from  all  who  saw  the  point,  the  parson,  how 
ever,  participating  only  to  the  extent  of  a  "  dry 
grin." 

Conspicuous  figures  on  the  streets  and  about 
the  court-house  square  throughout  the  day  were 
Mamie-Lou  John  and  Rosetta  Hightower,  the  for 
mer  being  one  of  Mr.  Brown's  most  enthusiastic 
"  workers,"  and  the  latter  one  of  the  idling  black 
women  who  stood  about  in  small  groups,  looked, 
listened,  gossiped,  and  "  rubbed  "  snuff.  Josephine 
Witherspoon  was  also  frequently  to  be  seen,  slowly 
navigating  her  large  person  from  one  group  to 
another.  Cicero  had  passed  from  the  scene  less 
than  six  weeks  since,  and  already  Josephine  was  in 
her  third  honeymoon  and  talked  gayly  of  her  pres 
ent  "  old  man."  With  great  hilarity  and  good- 
humor  she  accosted  Sam  Thomas  on  the  street, 
informing  him  of  her  new  estate  and  demanding 
tribute. 

"  I  got  ma'ied  'way  week  fo'  last,"  she  said,  re 
proachfully,  "  an'  you  ain't  gim-me  nothin'  yit." 

"  If  I  'd  known  you  were  goin'  to  strike  me  for  a 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  227 

wedding  present,"  he  retorted,  laughing,.  "  I  'd  'a' 
dodged  you." 

"Would  n'  'a'  done  you  no  good,  I'd 'a.'  caught 
up  wid  you,"  she  declared,  with  a  great  laugh,  bend 
ing  her  body  and  spreading  her  arms  in  the  extrava 
gant  African  shrug,  which  may  be  fitly  compared 
with  the  evolutions  of  a  crab. 

"  And  so  you  are  married  again  already?  How 
long  has  Cicero  been  an  angel,  for  goodness' 
sake?" 

"  Oh,  you  hush  dat.  You  got  nothin'  to  do  wid 
dat."  She  seemed  to  wish  to  resent  such  imperti 
nence,  but  laughed  in  spite  of  herself.  "  Anyhow, 
you  owe  me  sump'n  for  tellin'  all  dat  tale  to  Miss 
Reba  Lawrence." 

"  Well,  here  's  half  a  dollar,"  he  said,  and  hav 
ing  delivered  a  significant  threat  behind  the  mask 
of  a  smile,  passed  on.  She  was  made  distinctly  to 
understand  that  if  she  told  any  one  of  their  little 
conspiracy  touching  Miss  Lawrence  and  Robert 
Morton,  she  would  be  made  to  pay  for  those 
divorce  papers  which  he  had  drawn  up  at  her 
request. 

Rosetta  was  less  gay,  but  she,  too,  had  already 
consoled  herself  with  another  love,  the  unlawful 
ness  of  which  appeared  to  disturb  her  no  more 
than  in  the  first  instance.  The  present  recipient  of 
her  favors  was  none  other  than  the  crafty  Mamie- 
Lou  John,  who,  like  Cicero,  had  a  neglected  wife  in 
the  background.  Rosetta  was  fast  becoming  reck- 


228  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

less  in  more  ways  than  one,  as  an  incident  of  the 
election  day  showed. 

Josephine  had  collided  with  the  unfortunate  Mrs. 
Simpson  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Neck  with 
absolute  impunity,  but  when  Rosetta  similarly  in 
sulted  a  prominent  lady  on  a  principal  street  of 
Barcelona,  she  exposed  herself  to  possible  conse 
quences  of  a  serious  nature.  Among  the  whites  it 
was  a  matter  perfectly  understood  that  no  lady 
would  be  seen  down  town  on  the  day  of  an  election ; 
but  necessity  —  as  was  afterwards  stated  —  had 
compelled  the  mother  of  Robert  Morton  to  break 
this  unwritten  law  on  the  present  day,  and  while 
passing  hurriedly  through  the  business  quarter 
she  was  tempted  to  halt  a  moment  and  look  into  a 
shop  window.  It  was  then  that  Rosetta,  moved  by 
her  hatred  for  the  race  in  general  and  for  Morton 
himself  in  particular,  passed  rapidly  by,  deliber 
ately  running  against  the  unwatchful  elderly  lady 
and  knocking  her  off  her  feet  so  effectually  that 
nothing  but  the  proximity  of  the  wall  of  the  shop 
prevented  her  from  falling  prostrate. 

Rosetta  walked  on  laughing,  but  a  policeman 
had  observed  the  whole  proceeding,  which  was 
nothing  short  of  a  deliberate  assault,  and  he  now 
promptly  arrested  the  young  woman,  who  attracted 
much  attention  as  she  was  led  away  by  her  noisy 
declamation  and  curses.  Within  a  few  squares  of 
the  jail,  however,  the  defiant  captive  was  set  at 
liberty,  after  being  warned  that  if  she  did  not  be- 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  229 

have  herself  in  future  she  would  be  put  on  the 
chain-gang  and  made  to  work  the  streets.  The 
cause  of  this  unexpected  clemency  was  that  the 
jail  was  already  full  of  negroes  awaiting  trial  for 
grave  or  minor  offences  as  the  case  might  be. 

"  Lockin'  you  niggers  up  and  feedin'  you  in 
the  winter  time  is  too  good  for  you,"  declared  the 
officer,  in  a  disgusted  tone.  "  Looks  to  me  like 
some  of  you  try  to  get  locked  up.  The  chain- 
gang  is  the  only  thing  to  take  the  starch  out  of 
you,  and  if  you  don't  look  out  you  '11  get  your  fill 
of  it." 

And  so  Rosetta  returned  to  the  court-house 
square  in  triumph.  About  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon,  or  somewhat  later,  a  negro  boy  sought 
her  with  the  information  that  "  Cun'l  Thomas " 
desired  to  see  her  at  his  office,  and  curiosity  car 
ried  her  thither.  All  lawyers  were  gratuitously 
dubbed  "  colonel  "  by  the  ignorant  in  Barcelona, 
greatly  to  the  disgust  of  such  men  as  Colonel 
Sanford  who  had  served  for  their  titles  on  the  field 
of  battle. 

Sam  Thomas  felt  jubilant  over  the  now  clearly 
foreshadowed  result  of  the  election,  but  as  regards 
his  personal  concerns  he  was  rather  downhearted. 
In  the  race  for  money  he  had  unquestionably  left 
Morton  "  'way  behind,"  as  he  would  have  expressed 
it,  but  as  to  prosperity  in  affairs  of  love,  it  was 
painfully  clear  that  his  rival  was  forging  ahead. 
Certain  developments  of  late,  or  evidences  of  them, 


230  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

had  alarmed  him,  and  the  conviction  forced  itself 
upon  him  that  something  decisive  must  be  done, 
and  done  promptly,  or  all  was  lost.  It  was  such 
reflections  as  these  which  incited  him,  as  he  now 
sat  alone  in  his  office,  to  unlock  a  drawer,  take  out 
an  old  letter,  and  begin  imitating  the  chirography 
therein  for  perhaps  the  hundredth  time. 

"  I  Ve  got  it  at  last,"  he  said  aloud,  after  some 
minutes  of  careful  effort.  "  He  would  n't  be  able 
to  tell  the  difference  himself,  and  how  could  she?" 

' '  What  you  want  wid  me?"  demanded  Rosetta, 
appearing  in  the  doorway. 

"Oh,  there  you  are,  eh?  I  want  to  see  you," 
responded  Thomas,  being  careful  to  put  away  the 
papers  on  which  he  had  been  writing. 

"What  fur?" 

"  We  '11  come  to  that  directly.  What  made  you 
slam  against  Mrs.  Morton  that  way  this  morning?" 

"  Any  yo'  business?  " 

"  Oh,  I  ain't  goin'  to  quarrel  with  you  about  it. 
I  know  why  you  did  it.  You  did  it  because  you 
hate  Bob  Morton,  and  you  hate  him  because  he 
knocked  Cicero  down  and  brought  him  to  town 
that  day,  —  him  and  Jim  Jones." 

"  Well,  if  you  was  so  wise,  what  made  you  ask 
me  ?  " 

'*  Don't  be  sassy  now.  I  Ve  got  a  little  proposi 
tion  to  make  to  you.  How  would  you  like  to  make 
—  well,  say  a  dollar  —  and  spite  Bob  Morton  at 
the  same  time?  I  thought  that  would  fetch  you," 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  231 

he  added,  seeing  the  young  woman's  eyes  leap  in 
her  head  and  her  lips  involuntarily  fall  apart. 

"  How  I  goin'  do  it?  "  she  asked  eagerly. 

"  I  'm  goin'  to  put  up  a  little  job  on  him,  — just 
a  joke,  you  know,  no  real  harm  in  it,  —  and  you 
can  help  it  through  if —  " 

He  checked  himself  at  the  sound  of  a  step  on 
the  stair.  Going  to  the  door,  he  saw  that  it  was 
Colonel  Sanford,  and,  turning,  hurriedly  dismissed 
his  companion.  "  I  can't  tell  you  about  it  now," 
he  said  softly.  "  Come  again  in  about  an  hour, 
or  come  to-morrow." 

"  I  thought  we  might  take  up  that  Abial  Rich 
ardson  matter  this  afternoon  and  have  done  with 
it,"  said  Colonel  Sanford,  as  he  walked  heavily 
from  the  head  of  the  stairs  to  the  office  door,  not 
appearing  to  observe  the  retreating  figure  of 
Rosetta. 

"  All  right,  colonel,"  said  Thomas  from  the 
doorway,  with  an  air  of  great  importance.  "  It 
won't  take  long,  once  we  put  our  heads  together. 
This  is  the  first  time  we  Ve  been  associated  on  a 
case,  ain't  it  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  rejoined  Colonel  Sanford,  coolly,  as  if  he 
trusted  it  would  be  the  last.  He  looked  older  and 
grayer  since  the  death  of  his  son,  and  his  manner 
of  seating  himself  showed  that  he  was  feebler. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  the  election  ? " 
asked  Thomas  some  time  later,  when  their  busi 
ness  was  practically  completed. 


232  THE  SOA'S   OF  HAM. 

"  I  think  it  is  a  public  scandal." 

"  They  tell  me  Brown  is  'way  ahead,"  rejoined 
the  young  lawyer,  promptly,  with  a  cheerful  smile. 

"  I  referred  to  the  manner  of  the  election,"  said 
Colonel  Sanford,  an  expression  of  mingled  disgust 
and  pain  on  his  face  as  he  lifted  his  eyes  to  the 
portrait  of  George  Washington  on  the  opposite 
wall,  "  but  my  words  are  equally  applicable  to  the 
success  of  the  candidate  himself.  From  your  man 
ner,  I  should  judge  that  you  voted  for  him." 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  did.  Between  you  and  me,  colonel, 
I  think  Harvey  is  the  man  for  the  place,  but  I 
could  n't  afford  to  antagonize  Brown  and  his 
crowd." 

"  In  my  opinion,  a  man  can  afford  to  do  anything 
that  is  right,"  was  the  curt  rejoinder. 

"  But,  you  see,  I  get  too  much  business  out  of 
'em.  We  Ve  got  to  look  out  for  number  one  in 
this  world." 

Colonel  Sanford  disdained  to  continue  the  dis 
cussion,  and  there  was  a  pause. 

"  I  wonder  what  Washington  and  Jefferson  and 
the  other  founders  of  the  Republic  would  say  if 
they  could  see  such  an  election,"  he  remarked 
after  a  few  moments.  "  Sometimes  I  almost  wish 
our  independence  had  been  delayed  fifty  years,  for 
in  that  case  slavery  with  us  would  have  come  to 
an  end  by  that  act  of  Parliament  in  1833  which 
caused  it  to  cease  in  all  the  British  dominions. 
Thus  the  South  would  have  been  saved  from  a  dis- 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  233 

astrous  war  and  the  terrible  financial  depression 
and  distressing  social  evils  which  followed  it.  For, 
not  only  would  the  English  have  voted  us  the 
same  indemnification  awarded  the  slave-owners  in 
all  their  colonies,  but  they  would  never  have  per 
petrated  the  gigantic  mistake  of  conferring  the 
suffrage  suddenly,  without  preparation  or  discrimi 
nation,  upon  millions  of  slaves,  the  vast  majority 
of  whom  were  as  incapable  of  casting  an  intelli 
gent  vote  as  their  fathers  were  when  they  were  led 
down  in  coffles  by  their  own  countrymen  to  the 
African  coast,  and  sold.  Even  now,  after  twenty- 
five  years  of  freedom,  the  vast  majority  are  as 
unfit  to  vote  as  ever.  What  the  end  of  it  all  will 
be  no  man  can  foretell." 

"  Oh,  the  nigger  is  all  right  as  long  as  you  can 
control  his  vote,"  said  Thomas,  lightly. 

"  How  are  you  going  to  control  his  vote  after 
he  is  decidedly  in  the  majority?  Either  there  will 
be  revolution,  war,  or  the  most  ignorant  and  profli 
gate  race  on  the  face  of  the  earth  will  govern 
the  most  intelligent.  I  could  give  you  statistics 
showing  the  negro's  increase  that  would  startle — " 

"That's  easy  enough,"  interrupted  Thomas,  as 
lightly  as  before.  "  Even  when  they  are  in  the  ma 
jority  it 's  no  trouble  at  all  to  control  their  vote." 

"  Do  you  mean  by  intimidation?"  asked  Colonel 
Sanford,  surprised.  "  I  have  never  seen  that  done 
yet,  and  I  have  always  been  inclined  to  regard  the 
accusation  as  a  campaign  lie  pure  and  simple." 


234  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  I  have  no  doubt  it's  been  done,"  said  Thomas, 
confidently,  "  but  I  don't  believe  it  ever  was  neces 
sary.  There  are  too  many  other  ways  of  cuttiri' 
down  the  nigger  vote.  The  poll-tax  alone  prevents 
thousands  of  'em  from  votin'.  In  most  Northern 
Sates  the  poll-tax  is  only  fifty  cents,  but  we  have 
been  wise  enough  to  make  it  a  dollar.  When  there  's 
no  white  man  who  wants  their  votes  to  pay  their 
poll-tax  for  'em,  lots  and  cords  of  niggers  will  give 
up  voting  before  they'll  pay  a  dollar  for  the  privi 
lege.  I  've  seen  'em  back  out  many  a  time. 

"  The  niggers  have  a  big  majority  in  Carleton, 
but  when  I  lived  there  the  whites  always  knew  how 
to  manage  'em.  They  had  a  separate  ballot-box 
and  ballot  for  every  candidate,  and  it  was  the  law 
for  every  voter,  black  or  white,  to  walk  in  by  him 
self  and  deposit  his  own  vote,  and  if  he  put  it  in 
the  wrong  box  it  could  n't  be  counted.  More  than 
three-fourths  of  the  niggers  could  n't  read  and  of 
course  they  put  most  of  their  votes  in  the  wrong 
boxes.  To  meet  this,  their  managers  would  take 
the  voters  and  arrange  the  ballots  between  their 
five  fingers,  and  tell  them  to  put  in  first  this,  then 
that,  and  so  on,  beginning  at  the  right  or  the  left 
ballot-box,  as  the  case  might  be.  This  would 
work  for  awhile,"  concluded  the  young  man,  with  a 
great  laugh,  "  but  the  white  managers  would  catch 
on  mighty  quick,  and  go  in  and  shuffle  the  boxes,  and 
then  there  would  be  more  confusion  than  ever. 

"  There  are  lots  of  others  ways,"  he   continued. 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  235 

"  For  instance,  the  law  in  some  places  which  pro 
vides  that  the  polls  shall  be  opened  at  a  certain 
hour  or  the  precinct  be  thrown  out  of  the  election 
count.  I've  known  of  heavy  nigger  precincts 
being  thrown  out  in  this  way,  the  white  managers 
being  careful  to  oversleep  and  open  the  polling 
place  after  the  appointed  hour." 

"  I  thank  Heaven  that  no  such  tactics  need  to  be 
resorted  to  in  the  community  in  which  I  live," 
said  Colonel  Sanford,  gravely ;  "  but  I  confess  that 
I  should  regard  almost  anything  as  justifiable  that 
would  prevent  this  ignorant,  profligate,  and  im 
moral  people  from  getting  control  of  our  local 
governments.  It  must  be  prevented.  But  don't 
you  see,"  he  continued,  gloomily,  "  that  such  ex 
pedients  can  work  temporarily  only?  The  rank 
and  file  of  the  negroes  are  learning  to  read,  and 
learning  fast.  They  don't  learn  much  more,  as  a 
rule,  but  they  all  seem  able  to  learn  that  much  and 
to  do  it  quickly.  I  tell  you  a  serious  struggle  for 
supremacy  will  fall  to  the  lot  of  our  children,  per 
haps  to  be  followed  by  a  struggle  for  existence 
later  on." 

"  Then,  all  I  Ve  got  to  say  is,  Look  out,  nig 
ger  !  " 

"You  may  be  right;  in  the  end  he  would 
doubtless  go  to  the  wall.  The  negro  has  never  yet 
been  able  to  cope  with  the  white  man,  so  far  as  I 
know,  except  in  the  single  instance  of  Hayti.  But 
what  we  should  do  is  to  take  measures  to  avoid  the 


236  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

inevitable  conflict  at  the  outset  by  colonizing 
him." 

"  We  might  gain  by  that,  but  don't  you  think  the 
negro  would  lose?  In  my  opinion  he  'd  become  a 
howling  savage  in  no  time." 

"  He  might  lapse  into  his  former  state  in  the 
course  of  time,"  said  the  colonel,  reflectively; 
"  there's  no  telling.  The  case  of  Hayti  is  not 
encouraging.  I  was  reading  Froude  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  negro  in  the  West  Indies  yesterday, 
and  he  does  not  take  a  hopeful  view.  He  says  the 
result  of  leaving  the  negro  nature  to  itself  is  more 
and  more  apparent  As  long  as  they  were  slaves 
they  were  docile  and  partly  civilized,  but  now 
there  is  not  the  slightest  sign  that  the  masses  are 
improving  either  in  intelligence  or  moral  habits, 
and  the  steady  tendency  is  back  toward  West  Afri 
can  superstitions.  Immorality  is  so  universal  that 
it  almost  ceases  to  be  regarded  as  a  fault.  In  spite 
of  schools,  missionaries,  etc.,  seventy  per  cent  of 
the  children  now  born  are  illegitimate.  The  young 
people  make  experiment  of  one  another  before 
they  will  enter  into  any  closer  connection,  and  the 
generality  of  the  people  are  mere  good-natured 
animals.  The  similarity  is  so  striking  that  the 
reader  almost  forgets  and  begins  to  imagine  that 
the  historian  is  writing  of  the  negro  of  the  South 
ern  States. 

"If  our  negro  should  settle  in  the  Congo  basin 
and  relapse  into  the  state  of  some  of  the  African 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  237 

tribes,  it  would  certainly  be  the  worse  for  him. 
Some  of  the  evils  found  among  certain  tribes  are 
too  shocking  to  be  named.  The  Bushmen  regard 
fratricide  as  perfectly  harmless,  and  have  only  one 
word  to  signify  girl,  maiden,  and  wife.  They  con 
sort  together  like  cattle,  and  the  men  exchange 
their  women  freely.  They  regard  lust  and  glut 
tony  as  the  acme  of  earthly  felicity.  According 
to  Bastian,  in  all  negro  languages  the  word  '  belly ' 
is  one  of  immense  importance.  Politeness  requires 
that  one  ask  of  his  neighbor  at  every  meeting  if  all 
is  well  with  this  organ,  and  the  Kroo  negroes  assert 
that  it  ascends  into  heaven  after  death.  Accord 
ing  to  Campbell,  the  Bechuanas  have  less  regard 
for  the  aged  than  for  cattle,  leaving  them  to  die  in 
helpless  misery;  and  their  neighbors,  the  Coran- 
nas,  expose  the  old  people  to  wild  beasts,  —  they 
being,  as  they  say,  no  longer  of  any  account,  only 
serving  to  use  up  the  provisions.  Among  other 
tribes,  also,  the  daughter  is  often  said  to  turn  her 
old  mother  out  of  the  hut,  and  sons  put  their 
fathers  to  death  with  impunity. 

"  But  this  horrible  picture  of  the  aborigines  is 
offset  by  the  encouraging  reports  received  from 
time  to  time  from  the  Liberia  colonists,"  Colonel 
Sanford  pursued,  "  and  I  can't  help  feeling  that  the 
negro  might  really  be  better  off  if  left  to  himself. 
He  constantly  furnishes  evidence  that,  in  the  mass, 
he  absorbs  our  vices  rather  than  our  virtues,  and  it 
was  surely  never  intended  for  the  two  races  to  live 


238  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

together  as  one  people.  At  any  rate,  we  Ve  got  to 
look  out  for  ourselves  and  our  children.  It  is  a  case 
of  sauve  qui pent,  as  with  the  French  after  Waterloo. 
We  must  shake  the  old  man  of  the  sea  from  off  our 
back,  but,  while  doing  it,  let  us  help  him,  if  we  can." 

The  colonel  cut  himself  short  here,  and  rose 
abruptly.  He  had  called  on  Sam  Thomas  to  do 
business,  not  to  discuss  what  his  friends  called  his 
"  hobby ;  "  he  regarded  it  as  a  useless  waste  of  time 
to  talk  seriously  to  such  a  man  about  a  question 
involving  no  personal  gain. 

As  he  went  heavily  down  the  stairs  and  out 
upon  the  sidewalk  of  manufactured  stone,  he  ob 
served  a  young  negress  hanging  about,  and  recol 
lected  absently  that  he  had  seen  her  before  and 
that  her  name  was  Rosetta.  Had  he  looked  back 
a  moment  later,  he  would  have  been  made  aware 
that  she  had  disappeared,  and,  if  he  had  walked 
more  lightly  himself,  he  would  doubtless  have 
heard  her  footsteps  as  she  ascended  the  stairs. 

When  Sam  Thomas  appeared  on  the  street  an 
hour  later  it  was  growing  dark,  bonfires  were  be 
ginning  to  burn,  an  addle-pated  negro  stood  on  a 
wagon  endeavoring  to  address  a  crowd  of  deriding 
listeners,  and  far  up  and  down  the  street  elated 
black  "  workers,"  with  some  money  in  their  pockets 
and  more  alcohol  in  their  brains,  staggered  here 
and  there,  and  with  a  hollow,  bought-and-paid-for 
enthusiasm  shouted  and  shouted  again,  "  H'rah 
for  Brown  !  " 


XVI. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  the  result  of  the  election 
was  the  source  of  much  congratulation  in  the 
Brown  household.  The  mayor  never  tired  of  dis 
cussing  the  theme,  and  his  wife  listened  to  him 
with  equally  unfailing  interest,  but  Betty  and  Reba 
were  more  moderate  in  their  enthusiasm  and  their 
expression  thereof,  each  being  silently  aware  that 
the  defeated  candidate  would  have  brought  more 
dignity  and  ability  to  the  position. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  after  that  of  the 
municipal  struggle  Adam  Brown  came  home  early, 
and  finding  the  three  ladies  on  the  piazza,  launched 
afresh  into  the  story  of  the  contest,  introducing 
new  details,  rehashing  others,  and  serving  up  for 
the  second  or  third  time  all  the  complimentary 
speeches  made  to  him  by  this  friend  and  that 
friend,  apparently  expecting  his  listeners  to  show 
as  keen  an  appetite  for  the  same  as  he  did  himself. 
Betty  was  the  first  to  weary  of  this  and  withdraw, 
wandering  aimlessly  out  to  the  wide,  tree-embow 
ered  back-yard,  and  finally  seating  herself  on  a 


240  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

bench  under  a  crepe  myrtle,  and  entering  into 
conversation  with  two  of  her  young  step-brothers, 
who  were  busily  stuffing  themselves  with  sugar 
cane. 

Reba  also  presently  retreated  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  mayor's  eloquence,  retiring  to  her  room, 
and  engaging  herself  with  a  favorite  book.  Rest 
and  the  cessation  of  the  wearing  daily  anxieties 
which  had  been  hers  for  so  long ;  the  passing  of 
the  acute  stage  of  her  grief  for  the  loss  of  her 
mother;  above  all,  her  arrival  at  the  entrance-court 
of  a  new  and  great  happiness,  —  were  not  without 
their  affect  on  her  appearance,  and  she  was  now  a 
more  pleasing  and  lovable  object  to  the  eye  than 
ever  before. 

She  was  still  alone  in  her  room  when  a  knock 
sounded  on  the  door,  rousing  her  from  the  absorp 
tion  in  her  book.  Inviting  the  visitor  to  enter,  — 
from  her  seat,  and  without  laying  aside  her  book, 
—  the  door  opened  and  a  flashily  dressed  and 
comely  young  negress  appeared. 

"  Mis'  Brown  tole  me  to  step  down  the  entry  to 
yo'  do'  an'  knock,  explained  the  visitor,  staring 
about  her  at  the  pleasing  objects  of  the  apartment 
with  an  air  of  very  great  interest.  "  I  come  to  pay 
you  for  that  dress  you  made  for  me  last  fall,"  she 
added. 

"  Which  one  was  that  ?     Are  you  —  " 

"  My  name  Rosetta  Hightower.  Josephine 
brung  de  cloth  to  you." 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  241 

"  Thank  you,  Rosetta.  Better  late  than  never, 
you  know." 

"  T  d  'a'  paid  it  befo',"  declared  Rosetta,  with  her 
most  amiable  manner,  stepping  forward  and  put 
ting  several  pieces  of  small  silver  into  the  out 
stretched  hand  of  the  young  lady,  who  still  sat,  her 
book  upside  down  in  her  lap,  —  "  I  'd  'a'  paid  it  'way 
yonder  before  Christmas,  but  I  could  n't  spare  it. 
Bet  you  can't  guess  who  gim-me  that  money,"  she 
added,  retreating  a  step  and  smiling  mysteriously. 

"  I  don't  think  I  '11  bet,"  said  Reba,  lightly.  "  I 
suppose  you  earned  it  The  best  money  is  that 
which  is  honestly  earned,  don't  you  think  ?  " 

"  Mr.  Bob  Morton  gim-me  that  money  jes'  a 
while  ago,"  said  Rosetta. 

This  was  not  a  part  of  Sam  Thomas's  "  little 
joke "  which  had  no  "  real  harm  in  it,"  but  an 
amplification  thereof  originating  in  Rosetta's  own 
fertile  brain,  and  utterly  without  foundation  in  fact. 
Seeing  the  easy  expression  of  her  companion's 
face  suddenly  stiffen  and  become  cold  and  repel 
lent,  her  courage  failed  her  and  she  dared  not  pro 
ceed  in  the  direction  previously  traced  out  for 
herself.  She  acknowledged  to  herself  afterward 
that  there  was  something  about  this  young  white 
lady  as  she  sat  there  in  silence  with  that  expression 
on  her  face,  and  especially  that  look  in  her  eyes, 
which  disarmed  her,  thwarted  her,  compelled  her 
to  abandon  her  design. 

"He  —  he-e — owed  me  dat  money,"  she  has- 
16 


242  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

tened  to  add,  uneasily ;  "  an'  I  stopped  by  his  office 
to  git  it  this  evenin',  an'  he  gim-me  a  letter  to  give 
to  you."  (She  began  to  open  a  reticule  which  she 
carried.)  "  I  tole  him  I  was  comin'  on  down  h-yuh, 
an'  he  said  I  might  jes*  as  well  carry  it  as  for  him 
to  hire  a  boy.  An'  so  he  give  it  to  me,  an'  h-yuh 
it  is." 

As  Reba  did  not  put  out  her  hand  to  take  it,  the 
letter,  after  a  moment's  hesitation,  was  dropped  on 
a  table  near  her  elbow.  She  sat  quite  still  as  before, 
the  repellent  expression  still  on  her  face,  rier  eyes 
fixed  steadily  on  those  of  the  young  negress. 
Rosetta  felt  more  uneasy  than  ever,  and  wished 
to  be  gone,  but  halted,  recollecting  something 
which  she  had  been  particularly  instructed  to  say. 

"  He  was  writin'  two  letters  when  I  went  in,  an' 
the  other  one  had  Miss  Maud  St.  Clair's  name  on 
it.  I  seen  it  with  my  own  eyes,  an'  I  can  read  as 
good  as  anybody,"  she  declared,  with  peculiar 
emphasis. 

As  this  gratuitous  piece  of  information  was  re 
ceived  without  comment,  Rosetta  concluded  that 
there  was  nothing  more  that  she  could  say  or  do. 
"  Well,  I  must  go,"  she  said,  with  a  somewhat 
baffled  air,  and  surveying  the  room  once  more, 
departed. 

"It  is  his  writing  —  his  surely,"  was  Reba's 
thought,  as  she  took  up  the  letter  and  looked  at 
the  superscription,  "  and  yet  that  girl  looked  as  if 
she  lied  in  every  word.  .  .  .  What,  then,  could 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  243 

he  have  been  writing  to  Miss  Maud  St.  Clair  about, 

—  if  there  were  two   letters  as  this  girl   claimed? 
Now  I  recollect,  he  was  quite  attentive  to  her  at 
one  time,  —  several  years  ago,  before  I  was  grown 
up  and  when  he  was  very  young.     But  that  was 
long  ago." 

The  letter,  which  was  opened  immediately,  was 
as  follows :  — 

DEAREST  MAUD,  —  I  write  to  ask  if  I  may  come  this 
evening.  You  were  cruel  to  write  as  you  did.  You  say 
that  my  explanation  is  not  sufficient ;  then  let  me  come 
and  add  to  it.  Let  me  swear  before  your  face  that  I 
love  you  only,  and  will  always.  I  freely  admit  that 
I  was  temporarily  fascinated  by  Miss  Reba  Lawrence, 
and  that  the  circumstances  of  her  sad  situation  touched 
my  heart.  And  as  a  friend  of  the  family,  I  felt  that  I 
could  not  stand  altogether  aloof  after  her  recent  bereave 
ment.  My  attentions  meant  no  more.  I  beg  you  to 
believe  me,  and  to  forgive  the  past  weakness  of  your 
devoted  lover, 

ROBERT  MORTON. 

"  It  does  not  sound  like  him,  and  yet  it  is  cer 
tainly  his  writing,"  thought  Reba,  in  a  fever  of 
agitation,  as  she  read  the  letter  through,  forgetful 
that  it  was  not  addressed  to  her.  4<  He  was  writing 
to  us  both,  then,  and  enclosed  her  letter  in  my 
envelope.  ...  I  cannot  believe  —  it  is  incredible 

—  he  must  have  lost  his  reason !   .  .  .  No,  I  trust 
him  —  I  refuse  to  believe  —  there  must  be  some 


244  THE   SONS  OF  HAM. 

mistake.  .  .  .  But  —  but  do  I  not  know  his  writ 
ing?  ...  He  loves  her,  then,  and  was  only  4  fasci 
nated  '  by  me.  .  .  .  The  '  circumstances '  of  my 
'  sad  situation,'  —  can  this  refer  to  our  extremity 
of  need,  and  his  assistance  through  Maum  Katie? 
...  It  is  a  lame  plea,  and  he  will  have  to  do  more 
than  this  to  convince  her.  .  .  .  He  is  deceiving 
her.  .  .  .  He  really  prefers  me,  —  how  else  could 
he  have  persuaded  me  that  he  so  deeply  loved? 
.  .  .  He  —  ah  !  can  it  be  for  that,  —  for  that  money 
she  has  recently  inherited?  .  .  .  Oh,  what  base 
ness  !  .  .  .  And  I  have  loved  that  man !  .  .  .  Who 
knows? — what,  after  all,  if  he  be  fickle  and  have 
really  changed  ?  In  either  case  it  is  the  same  to 
me.  .  .  .  The  end  has  come,  —  the  end  of  a  bright, 
foolish  dream.  .  .  .  Yes,  there  is  no  room  left  for 
doubt.  ...  I  would  doubt  —  summon  him  — 
speak  to  him  —  if  I  could.  .  .  .  But  these  are  his 
own  words.  ...  It  is  true  —  oh,  it  is  too  true  !  " 

And  thus,  with  an  indignant,  breaking  heart,  she 
read  the  cruel  letter  again  and  yet  again. 

At  nine  o'clock  the  next  morning  Betty  Walton 
sought  her  mother  and  anxiously  conferred  with 
her. 

"  Something  has  happened  to  Reba,"  she  an 
nounced  with  a  grave  face.  "  I  went  to  her  room 
a  little  while  ago  to  see  why  she  did  n't  come  to 
breakfast,  and  found  her  lying  across  the  bed  in  her 
clothes.  I  could  see  that  she  had  passed  the  night 
so  without  moving;  the  feathers  had  not  been 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  245 

pressed  down  anywhere  else.  I  knew  something 
dreadful  was  the  matter,  and  I  lay  down  on  the  bed 
by  her  and  rubbed  her  hand,  and  after  a  while 
she  whispered,  '  Betty/  like  a  person  too  tired  to 
speak,  and  that  was  all.  I  asked  her  what  was  the 
matter,  and  she  said,  '  Nothing.'  She  meant  she 
was  not  sick;  I  knew  that.  I  couldn't  see  her 
face,  but  I  could  feel  how  it  looked.  She  had  the 
air  of  a  person  stunned,  bruised,  beaten,  broken  — 
I  can't  describe  it!  I  wanted  to  push  up  the 
shades  and  let  the  light  in,  but  she  would  n't  let 
me." 

"  Why,  let  me  go  to  the  po'  child,"  cried  Mrs. 
Brown,  overflowing  with  sympathy  and  tender 
ness. 

"I  would  n't  —  yet,"  said  Betty.  "It's  too 
dreadful  for  sympathy.  She  wants  to  be  alone." 

"  What  do  you  reckon  it  is,  Betty?  " 

"  It  may  be  a  quarrel  with  Robert  Morton.  But 
it  seems  to  me  it  must  be  worse  than  that." 

Two  days  later  the  object  of  their  conjectures 
himself  appeared.  He  asked  for  Reba  and  showed 
the  liveliest  concern  when  told  that  she  had  been 
confined  to  her  room  for  several  days  and  had 
tasted  no  morsel  of  food.  Betty  studied  his  face 
with  all  the  keen,  perceptive  scrutiny  of  a  good 
woman,  and  was  more  puzzled  than  ever.  On  leav 
ing,  he  said  that  he  would  call  or  send  every  day 
for  news,  taking  for  granted  that  Betty  understood 
what  his  relation  was  with  her  cousin. 


246  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

The  next  morning  Colonel  Sanford  was  the 
bearer  of  unexpected  good  news.  He  said  he  had 
known  for  some  time  that  the  insolvent  railroad 
was  adjusting  its  difficulties,  but  not  until  the  pre 
vious  day  that  the  stockholders  would  receive  their 
interest  so  long  overdue.  The  colonel  looked  hap 
pier  than  Betty  had  seen  him  for  many  a  day  when 
he  opened  his  breast  pocket-book  and  produced  a 
check  in  Reba's  name  for  all  unpaid  dividends. 

This  news  seemed  to  produce  a  remarkable  effect 
on  the  stricken  girl,  for  an  hour  after  her  cousin 
had  informed  her  she  rose  from  her  bed  and  let  the 
light  into  the  darkened  place.  Early  in  the  after 
noon,  hearing  continued  movements  in  the  room, 
Betty  knocked  at  the  door  and  was  invited  to  enter. 
She  saw  at  once  that  Reba  had  recovered  her 
spirit;  she  looked  older,  paler,  thinner,  Betty 
thought,  but  there  was  firmness  in  her  step  and  fire 
in  her  eye. 

"  I  have  written  to  Mrs.  Blossom  proposing  to 
visit  her  at  once,"  she  immediately  announced, 
"  and  I  expect  to  start  as  soon  as  I  receive  an 
answer." 

"  Reba  Lawrence !  "  exclaimed  Betty,  helplessly. 

"  I  hope  Aunt  Matilda  won't  object,  because  I 
am  determined." 

Betty  felt  hurt  at  being  left  out  of  her  cousin's 
confidence,  —  for  the  first  time,  as  she  thought,  — 
and  contented  herself  with  saying,  after  a  pause : 
"  And  what  will  he  say?  He  was  here  yesterday." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  247 

"  That  is  why  I  am  going,"  was  the  reply,  with 
a  trembling  lip.  "Oh,  Betty," -  — they  were  in 
each  other's  arms  now,  —  "I  am  so  miserable. 
Only  a  week  ago  I  told  you  that  we  were  engaged, 
and  already  —  already  I  —  I  have  discovered  that 
—  that  it  ought  never  to  have  been  —  that  I  —  that 
I  don't  —  trust  him  —  don't  love  him." 

"Reba!" 

This  explanation  did  not  satisfy  Betty,  and  she 
subjected  her  cousin's  face  to  the  most  piercing 
scrutiny.  "  But  you  are  going  to  explain  to  him?" 
she  said  finally. 

"  Yes.     I  can't  see  him,  but  I  will  write." 

Betty  ended  another  -pause  by  asking:  "But 
how  on  earth  can  you  get  ready?  You  have  no 
clothes  ready." 

"  I  want  the  dressmaker  to  come  to-morrow.  I 
have  some  money  now,  you  know.  I  '11  have 
one  dress  made,  and  the  rest  can  be  done  in 
Philadelphia." 

"  He  '11  probably  come  to-morrow  and  inquire 
about  you.  What  shall  I  tell  him  ? " 

"  Nothing." 

"  Have  you  decided  how  you  will  have  your 
dress  made  ? " 

"  No,  not  yet." 

"  Then  you  don't  want  him  to  know  you  are 
going  ? " 

"  No  —  no  —  not  till  I  write  to  him.  And 
please  help  me,  Betty,  with  Aunt  Matilda,  who 


248  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

will  object  of  course.  For  really  I  must  go  at 
once." 

"  I  will,  dearie,  and  I  '11  help  you  plan  your 
dress.  I  don't  quite  understand  all  this,  but  I  '11 
help  you  in  every  way  I  can.  I  see  you  are  terri 
bly  in  earnest." 

Seated  in  his  office  a  week  later,  endeavoring  to 
work,  but  accomplishing  little  because  tormented 
with  thoughts  of  Reba,  her  strange  malady,  and 
the  inevitable  misgivings  of  an  ardent  lover,  Rob 
ert  Morton  was  handed  a  note  by  a  negro  boy,  who 
retired  without  waiting  for  an  answer.  He  saw  at 
a  glance  that  it  was  from  Reba,  and  opened  it  in 
great  haste. 

"  I  have  come  to  see  that  our  engagement  was  a 
mistake,"  she  wrote,  "  and  that  it  will  be  better 
for  us  both  if  it  be  immediately  dissolved.  In 
imagining  and  admitting  that  I  loved  you,  I  fear 
that  I  deceived  both  you  and  myself.  Fortunately 
I  see  more  clearly  now.  I  therefore  ask  to  be 
released,  and  that  everything  be  considered  at  an 
end  between  us  henceforth." 

Five  minutes  later  Morton  rushed  out  of  his 
office  and  lost  himself  in  the  streets  of  the  town, 
wandering  he  scarcely  knew  whither  and  seeing 
only  his  perplexity  and  pain.  The  aspect  of  the 
whole  world  seemed  to  have  changed.  The  very 
voice  of  the  gay  birds  was  mournful  and  the  bril 
liant  sunshine  a  ghastly,  inexplicable  mockery. 
For  him,  and  for  the  time,  the  world  had  practi- 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  249 

cally  come  to  an  end  and  chaos  reigned.  He  first 
strayed  out  beyond  the  suburbs,  but  returning  an 
hour  or  more  later,  mechanically  directed  his  steps 
toward  the  railway  station,  oblivious  of  the  strag 
gling  professional  loafers  preceding  and  following 
him. 

The  latter,  who  might  with  propriety  be  called  sta 
tionary  tramps,  being  distinguished  by  all  the  char 
acteristics  of  their  peregrinating  brother,  with  the 
notable  exception  of  the  love  of  travel,  were  now 
shifting  their  basis  in  order  to  witness  the  arrival 
of  the  express  train.  These  worthies  were  habitu 
ally  much  averse  to  exertion  of  any  kind,  but  at 
the  appointed  hour  always  forsook  their  "  up 
town"  haunts  and  submitted  themselves  to  the 
inconvenience  of  walking  three  hundred  yards  in 
order  to  observe  the  crowd,  the  bustle,  and  com 
motion,  to  gaze  with  ever  renewed  interest  upon 
the  puffing  locomotive,  and  perhaps  to  wonder  at 
the  energy  of  steam.  In  general  appearance,  ex 
cept  that  the  majority  of  them  were  negroes,  they 
much  resembled  those  seedy  specimens  of  mascu 
line  humanity  who  in  spring  and  summer  haunt 
the  squares  in  Northern  cities,  sitting  languidly  on 
the  wooden  benches  and  staring  vacantly  before 
them.  The  latter  specimen  has  the  advantage  of 
the  "  bracing"  climate,  but  in  his  own  person  does 
not  seem  to  exhibit  any  corresponding  superiority. 

The  express  train  was  late  and  the  loafers  dis 
posed  themselves  about  the  long  platform  of  the 


250  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

station-house  in  sullen  silence,  too  much  effort 
being  involved  in  any  adequate  expression  of  the 
annoyance  which  they  felt  at  being  obliged  to  wait. 
Others  were  impatient  as  well.  Eight  or  ten  negro 
children  looked  anxiously  up  and  down  the  rail 
road  and  when  the  train  finally  appeared  they 
showed  their  beautiful  teeth  in  the  rapturous  cry, 
"  Yawnder  she  come  !  "  These  little  rag-a-muffins, 
dressed  in  odds  and  ends  patched,  torn,  and  black 
ened  almost  to  the  hue  of  their  skins,  were  profes 
sionals,  too,  but  not  loafers.  They  were  minstrels, 
and  came  to  sing  under  the  windows  of  the  passen 
ger-cars.  During  the  fall  and  winter,  when  North 
erners  were  passing  on  their  way  to  or  returning 
from  Florida,  they  gathered  a  harvest  of  pennies, 
nickels,  and  dimes  not  to  be  despised,  but  in 
spring  and  summer  the  business  declined,  the  pas 
sengers  on  board  being  usually  from  parts  of  the 
country  where  singing  negroes  were  as  common 
as  mocking-birds. 

Morton  had  scarcely  devoted  more  than  a  glance 
to  these  or  other  juvenile  minstrels  heretofore,  but 
to-day  as  he  stood  on  the  platform  waiting  he  knew 
not  for  what,  his  restless  eyes,  which  for  the  most 
part  saw  nothing  but  the  inward  pain,  now  and 
then  lighted  upon  them  and  lingered  until  they 
were  clearly  outlined  and  their  voices  were  heard. 
Their  very  laughter  seemed  sad  to  him,  and  there 
was  an  unspeakable  pathos  in  their  movements,  as 
they  hopped  about  like  birds  on  a  frosty  morning, 
and  looked  hungrily  down  the  vacant  railroad. 


THE    SONS  OF  HAM.  251 

Across  the  way  from  the  station  was  a  rambling 
frame  hotel,  and  on  its  broad  veranda  were  seated 
several  sojourners  lazily  watching  an  Italian  with 
hand-organ  and  tiny  monkey  on  the  frost-bitten 
grass  in  front.  The  poor  little  red-jacketed  beast 
skipped  about  tremblingly,  as  if  in  mortal  terror 
of  its  swarthy  master,  and,  receiving  his  com 
mands,  began  climbing  up  one  of  the  veranda 
columns  to  the  balcony  above,  where  some  ladies 
were  looking  down.  For  this  was  a  novelty  in 
Barcelona  as  yet,  while  the  little  negro  minstrels 
were  commonplace  in  the  extreme.  The  latter 
may  have  been  aware  of  this,  but  all  envy  of  the 
rival  combination  was  swallowed  up  in  wonder  and 
pleasure,  and  not  even  the  most  commercial  per 
haps  found  time  to  speculate  on  the  possible  ad 
vantage  of  having  a  marmoset  of  his  own  to  send 
into  the  car  window  after  pennies.  They  indeed 
forgot  their  own  concerns  in  the  intensity  of  their 
interest,  as  the  Italian,  after  gazing  hungrily  at  all 
the  upper  windows,  drew  in  the  line,  and  the  trem 
bling  little  monkey  delivered  to  its  master  a  dime. 
Morton  saw  all  this  as  through  a  mist,  and  every 
movement  or  sound  was  to  him  the  futile  expres 
sion  of  an  inward  despair.  The  hand-organ  was 
"  cracked  "  and  out  of  tune,  its  notes  resembling 
the  broken  and  quavering  tones  of  an  old  man  tot 
tering  on  the  brink  of  the  grave,  and  when  the 
giddy  Fishers'  Hornpipe  was  turned  off,  and  the 
hackneyed  but  always  touching  "  Ah  che  la  morte  " 


252  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

of  the  Trovatore  was  turned  on,  it  seemed  to  one 
listener  that  the  sound  which  floated  on  the  air 
expressed  the  condensed,  insufferable  anguish  of  a 
thousand  worlds. 

This  mellifluous  misery  was  presently  cut  short, 
being  drowned  in  the  roar  of  the  arriving  train. 
Commotion  began  in  the  station,  clerks  rushed  out 
of  the  baggage  office,  and  the  loafers  pricked  up 
their  ears,  looking  as  if  they  took  an  interest  in  life 
once  more.  The  little  black  minstrels  took  their 
places  and  did  not  wait  for  the  roar  to  subside 
before  they  began  lustily  to  shout,  rather  than  to 
sing,  while  running  along  beneath  the  windows  of 
the  moving  sleeping-car.  At  length  there  was 
comparative  quiet,  and  the  monotonous  repetition 
of  their  brief  strain  could  be  distinctly  heard : 

"  I  belong  to  de  ban', 

I  belong  to  de  ban', 

I  belong  to  de  ban', 

Halleloo !  " 

A  coin  was  presently  tossed  out,  striking  one  of 
them  on  the  head  and  rebounding  into  a  puddle  of 
water  left  by  a  recent  rain.  Then  down  on  their 
hands  and  knees  and  into  the  water  they  went,  one 
and  all,  shouting  and  scrambling  and  splashing, 
until  the  lucky  one  found  and  gripped  the  coin  in 
a  vise,  whereupon  they  were  all  on  their  feet  in  a 
moment  and  lustily  singing  again.  To  the  occu 
pants  of  the  car  this  was  very  funny,  and  another 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  253 

coin  was  tossed  into  the  puddle  in  order  to  cause 
the  scramble  to  be  repeated,  but  the  observer  from 
the  platform  saw  in  it  only  a  suggestion  of  the  wan 
and  sickly  smile  which  may  cover  desperation  and 
unutterable  grief. 

A  carriage  drove  up  in  haste,  two  ladies  were 
assisted  out  of  it,  and  a  few  moments  later  Reba's 
pale  face  was  suddenly  outlined  before  Morton's 
absent  eyes.  With  a  convulsive  movement  of  the 
heart,  a  stopping  of  breath,  a  paralysis  of  hand  and 
tongue,  he  became  aware  that  she  was  being  assisted 
upon  the  already  moving  train.  It  seemed  to  him 
that  he  cried  out  to  her,  with  outstretched  hands, 
as  in  the  first  moment  he  longed  to  do,  but  he 
stood  as  immovable  as  the  platform  itself  while  the 
train  moved  slowly  away. 


XVII. 

MRS.  BLOSSOM  had  despatched  a  prompt  and 
carefully  worded  reply  to  Reba's  letter,  and  the 
latter  felt  relieved  of  any  uneasiness  respecting  the 
nature  of  her  reception ;  but  after  her  hurried  flight 
from  Barcelona  was  accomplished,  and  her  dread 
of  meeting  Morton  was  removed,  the  unhappy  girl 
had  leisure  to  reflect  upon  the  precipitancy  of  her 
action,  and  during  the  journey,  as  often  as  her 
thoughts  were  diverted  from  the  one  great  and 
absorbing  interest  of  her  life,  she  became  a  prey 
to  apprehension.  Immediately  upon  her  arrival 
in  Philadelphia,  however,  her  doubts  were  set  at 
rest,  the  welcome  extended  to  her  being  most  cor 
dial  and  genuine  ;  and  the  new  and  agreeable  phase 
of  life  to  which  she  was  now  introduced  soon  fur 
nished  that  diversion  so  needed  by  one  in  her  state 
of  mind. 

She  found  that  Mrs.  Blossom's  mode  of  life  was 
more  luxurious  and  aristocratic  than  she  had  had 
reason  to  suppose.  Though  scarcely  to  be  called 
attractive  from  without,  the  house  was  situated  in 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  255 

the  heart  of  the  fashionable  quarter,  and  was 
filled  with  rare  and  costly,  but  tasteful  and  not 
overpowering  collections  of  bibelots,  pictures,  and 
eccentricities  of  decoration  and  furniture,  the 
"  gimcracks,"  to  employ  the  language  of  the  irre 
verent,  having  been  gathered  from  the  four  quarters 
of  the  world.  A  liveried  Irish  flunkey  stood. in 
the  hall,  two  stately,  silent,  black  men  in  evening 
dress  served  in  the  dining-room,  and  besides  coach 
man,  footman,  and  cook,  the  establishment  boasted 
a  superfluity  of  maids,  French  and  otherwise.  All 
this  in  the  house  of  a  childless  couple  struck  Reba 
with  amazement,  and  she  involuntarily  contrasted 
such  luxury  with  the  narrow  and  painfully  strait 
ened  existence  to  which  she  and  her  mother  had 
so  long  been  accustomed.  She  thought  her  new 
friend  must  live  a  life  of  lonely  magnificence 
indeed,  but  for  the  guests  who  came  and  went  so 
often;  for  Mr.  Blossom,  with  whom  Reba  never 
became  well  acquainted,  was  seen  in  the  house  but 
little.  Indeed,  the  visitor  soon  suspected  the  ex 
istence  of  a  coldness  between  him  and  his  wife,  as 
otherwise  it  appeared  unlikely  that  he  would  spend 
every  entire  day  in  business  speculations,  rarely 
returning  even  to  dinner,  and  his  evenings  at  his 
club  or  elsewhere,  leaving  his  wife  to  receive  her 
guests  alone. 

Reba  thought  these  guests  for  the  most  part 
delightful  people,  but  amazingly  unlike  the  human 
specimen  she  had  expected  to  encounter.  From 


256  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

what  she  had  read  of  the  popular  literature  of  the 
Northern  States  she  had  derived  a  fixed  idea  that 
even  the  wealthy  and  most  highly  cultured  classes 
there  were  nothing  if  not  democratic  in  all  their  in 
stincts,  that  the  feeling  of  caste  was  practically  un 
known,  although,  as  a  matter  of  course,  every  one 
reserved  the  right  to  select  his  own  associates,  and 
that  matters  of  ancestry,  barring  the  case  of  mettle 
some  horses,  could  be  mentioned  only  in  secluded 
corners  and  with  bated  breath,  except  at  the  fear 
ful  risk  of  being  covered  with  ridicule,  even  as  was 
now  more  and  more  the  case  in  much-mixed 
Barcelona,  where  the  triumphant  bottom  rail  was 
on  top.  Her  surprise  amounted  to  astonishment, 
therefore,  after  her  introduction  to  the  "  old  Phila 
delphia  families,"  among  the  representatives  of 
which  element  Mrs.  Blossom  counted  her  friends. 
Here,  she  found,  the  query,  "  Who  was  your  fath 
er?"  was  of  equal  if  not  greater  importance  than 
in  Virginia  and  certain  quarters  farther  south,  and 
the  question  of  genealogy  was  as  much  a  matter 
of  course  as  the  multiplication-table.  Indeed,  the 
doors  of  this  society  were  as  irrevocably  closed 
against  the  nouveaux-riches,  or  other  aspirants  with 
no  background  in  the  past,  as  was  ever  the  en 
trance  to  the  inner  sanctuary  of  the  old-time 
Southerner,  who  counted  his  ten  generations  and 
his  hundred  cousins. 

Reba   did  not  spend    her  days   listening  to  the 
history  of  near  and  remote  relationships,  however. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  257 

She  saw  a  great  deal  of  life,  for  one  who  hereto 
fore  had  seen  so  little.  The  season  of  Lent,  as 
well  as  her  recent  bereavement,  imposed  restric 
tions  on  her  social  experience,  but  Mrs.  Blossom 
saw  to  it  that  she  was  present  at  many  quiet  dinners 
and  gatherings,  where  persons  distinguished  for 
more  than  blue  blood  were  sometimes  to  be  met. 

In  the  course  of  her  visit  Reba  made  the  acquaint 
ance  of  a  few  statesmen,  poets,  and  authors  whose 
names  had  been  familiar  to  her  for  years,  although 
the  majority  of  these  were  not  residents  of  Phila 
delphia,  and  while  listening  to  polite  speeches 
from  their  lips  was  still  sufficiently  mistress  of  her 
self  to  observe  that  they  were,  after  all,  very  much 
like  the  average  undistinguished  person  of  the 
intelligent  class.  Mrs.  Blossom  being  both  literary 
and  musical,  her  young  guest  was  accordingly 
taken  to  the  meetings  of  a  Browning  society  that 
she  might  hear  the  enigmas  of  a  cult-producing 
poet  expounded  ;  to  the  Contemporary  Club  gather 
ings  that  she  might  hear  disquisitions  from  learned 
and  famous  professors  on  scientific  and  literary 
subjects ;  to  a  reform  club  where  questions  of  local 
importance  were  discussed,  Mr.  Paul  Shepherd 
taking  an  active  part;  to  an  "  Orpheus"  club  in 
order  to  hear  a  remarkable  chorus  of  young  men ; 
besides  public  lectures,  the  opera,  theatre,  etc. 

In  the  latter,  the  opera  especially,  Reba  at  first 
took  more  interest  than  in  the  doings  of  society 
itself,  as  a  consequence  of  her  possession  of  a 

17 


258  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

very  keen  appreciation  of  music  and  of  having 
been  able  to  gratify  her  love  of  it  but  little  hereto 
fore.  She  was  not  critical,  but  her  naturally 
correct  dramatic  instincts  received  an  unmistakable 
shock  on  beholding  a  lyric  artist  of  the  Italian 
school  come  twice  out  of  a  tomb  after  life  was  sup 
posed  to  be  extinct,  in  order  to  repeat  her  aria  in 
response  to  an  enthusiastic  encore.  Mrs.  Blossom 
smiled  at  the  inexperienced  girl's  objection  to 
these  conventionalities  of  the  operatic  stage,  but 
Mr.  Shepherd,  who  visited  the  house  constantly 
and  often  acted  as  the  escort  of  the  two  ladies, 
heartily  agreed  with  her  that  mere  concert  in  cos 
tume  was  not  true  opera.  He  declared  that  when, 
in  the  last  scene  of  Semiramide,  the  queen  is 
stabbed  by  mistake  in  the  dark,  she  ought  to  act 
is  if  really  stabbed,  and  ought  to  fall,  regardless  of 
a  dirty  stage  floor  and  a  handsome  gown;  that 
when,  with  a  musical  shriek,  she  spreads  herself 
out  comfortably  on  a  cushion  which  by  no  sort  of 
chance  could  have  been  ready  in  the  dark  before 
that  tomb,  the  illusion,  but  faint  at  best,  is  utterly 
dispelled;  hero,  heroine,  villain  and  all  the  para 
phernalia  of  Babylonian  court  life  disappear,  and 
nothing  is  left  but  the  Academy  stage  and  a  few 
masquerading  Italians,  with  the  high-priced  Patti 
in  the  centre  enjoying  her  mock  death  on  an  im 
possible  cushion.  It  was  not  until  she  witnessed 
presentations  of  Siegfried,  Tannhauser,  and  Lohen 
grin,  with  leading  German  singers  in  the  cast,  who 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  259 

acted  with  as  much  energy  and  intelligence  as 
they  sang,  did  Reba  feel  that  she  had  seen  real 
opera. 

Her  unusual  interest  in  music  was  occasioned  by 
something  more  than  the  mere  desire  of  gratifying 
her  delight  in  it.  Within  three  weeks  after  her 
departure  from  Barcelona  she  had  begun  to  think 
seriously  of  a  musical  career  for  herself,  having 
proposed  in  mind  such  a  plan  after  much  anxious 
thought  concerning  her  future.  For  she  now 
believed  that  she  would  never  marry,  that  she 
could  not  be  dependent  on  her  aunt  or  live  per 
manently  in  the  house  of  Adam  Brown,  and  that 
she  must  have  employment,  both  because  her 
income  was  narrow  and  because  she  had  no  desire 
for  an  idle  life.  When  her  visit  was  at  an  end, 
instead  of  returning  home,  although  homesick 
already,  she  determined  to  find  a  boarding-place 
and  prosecute  her  musical  studies  under  a  master, 
and,  before  her  purse  was  quite  empty,  engage 
Colonel  Sanford  to  sell  the  railroad  shares.  If 
nothing  more  were  accomplished,  she  might  at 
least,  return  to  Barcelona  and  teach  music.  But  she 
did  not  wish  to  return  to  Barcelona,  and  hoped  to 
accomplish  more.  The  operas  and  concerts  of  the 
higher  class  which  she  had  enjoyed  of  late  stirred 
her  deeply  with  a  love  of  song  and  she  dreamily 
pictured  to  herself  the  possible  career  of  a  singer. 

Up  to  the  date  of  her  father's  death  she  had 
received  regular  instruction  in  music,  and  had 


260  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

been  celebrated  for  the  unusual  beauty  of  her  voice 
within  the  small  circle  of  her  friends.  More  culti 
vated  musically  than  these,  however,  were  her  new 
friends;  and  she  wondered  and  doubted  if  their 
verdict  would  be  favorable.  To  test  the  matter, 
partly  so  at  least,  while  alone  with  Mrs.  Blossom 
one  day  she  seated  herself  at  the  piano  unasked, 
and  after  playing  a  few  chords,  sang  one  stanza  of 
the  simplest  song  she  knew  with  all  the  feeling 
and  quality  of  tone  of  which  she  was  capable, 
afterwards  rising  and  moving  away  indifferently. 

"Why — why  didn't  you  tell  me  you  could 
sing?"  asked  Mrs.  Blossom,  with  great  interest, 
her  eye-glasses  tumbling  from  their  perch  on  the 
bridge  of  her  prominent  nose. 

"  Do  you  think  I  really  can?  " 

"Do  I  think  you  'can'?  Your  voice  is  beau 
tiful." 

Then  Reba  confessed  her  plans,  hopes  and  fears. 
They  were  ere  this  on  quite  intimate  terms.  At 
the  outset  Mrs.  Blossom  had  been  outspoken  and 
ready  with  friendly  counsel.  "  You  have  been  well 
brought  up,"  she  said  on  the  day  after  Reba's  arri 
val.  "  Your  people  were  evidently  the  right  sort, 
and  did  their  duty  by  you.  I  shall  not  be  afraid 
for  you  in  any  position  likely  to  be  yours  here; 
but  you  have  seen  little  of  society,  and  I  must  give 
you  some  practical  hints."  And  the  hints  were 
given  from  time  to  time,  and  taken  with  becoming 
gratitude.  Reba  was  now  the  more  ready,  there- 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  261 

fore  to  avow  her  aspirations.  Mrs.  Blossom  lis 
tened  with  astonishment. 

"  That  is  quite  another  matter,"  she  remarked, 
at  last.  "  Of  course  I  meant  that  your  voice  was 
beautiful  for  an  amateur,  — just  the  thing  for  sing 
ing  to  one's  friends  in  a  parlor." 

"  I  was  not  confident,"  faltered  Reba.  Her  face 
had  fallen  now.  "  I  thought  I  might  at  least  teach 
music." 

"  Nobody  can  tell,"  said  Mrs.  Blossom  then, 
unexpectedly.  "  Your  voice  might  he  built  up. 
It  could  hardly  be  more  sympathetic  and  sweet, 
and  it  might  be  made  stronger  and  louder  by 
proper  training." 

"  I  thought  of  going  to  see  a  professor,"  ventured 
Reba,  more  encouraged. 

"  Yes,  and  I  '11  invite  some  musical  people  here, 
and  we  can  find  out  what  they  think.  But  your 
friends  in  Barcelona  would  not  like  to  see  you 
go  on  the  stage,  I  know,  nor  should  I,"  added  Mrs. 
Blossom  gravely. 

"  They  would  be  horrified,"  said  Reba,  with  con 
viction.  "  But  I  had  only  thought  of  concerts,  and 
that  is  not  quite  the  stage." 

"  There  is  a  slight  difference,  but  —  but  you  are 
a  girl  who  ought  to  marry,  Reba." 

"  I  'm  sure  I  never  shall." 

"  That  is  absurd.  You  cannot  fail  to  have  good 
offers.  I  know  a  young  man  who  is  already  un 
usually  interested  in  you.  It  was  partly  on  his 


262  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

account  that  I  invited  you  to  visit  me,  —  because 
I  saw  that  he  fancied  you.  I  speak  of  my  nephew, 
Paul." 

"  Oh,  Mrs.  Blossom  !  if  you  really  think  —  " 
"  I  may  be  too  hasty,"  said  the  elder  lady,  with 
solemnity,  "  and  I  should  not  have  spoken  but  for 
this  unexpected  plan  of  yours.  After  that  I  felt 
that  you  ought  to  know.  He  really  is  not  very  sus 
ceptible,  and  it  may  not  go  as  far  as  I  hope  it  will, 

—  and,  by  the  way,  it  is  not  every  girl  that  I  would 
deliberately  advise  to  set  her  cap  for  my  nephew, 

—  but    if    it    should,    you    couldn't    do    better, 
child." 

"  I  am  flattered  that  you  should  wish  it,"  faltered 
Reba,  astonished,  "  and  I  do  admire  him,  but  —  " 

"  He  is  fine-looking,  he  has  an  independent  for 
tune,  he  is  not  absorbed  in  what  he  calls  the  triv 
ialities  of  society,  he  has  ideals,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  honorable  of  men.  What  more  could  any 
girl  desire?  " 

"  Love,"  said  Reba,  solemnly. 

"  Any  girl  could  learn  to  love  such  a  man." 

"  Do  you  really  think  so,  Mrs.  Blossom?  "  the 
girl  asked,  looking  directly  into  her  friend's  eyes. 

"  Certainly." 

"  The  poets  have  been  deceiving  the  world  for 
ages,  then." 

"  Nonsense.  I  enjoy  a  good  love-story  as  much 
as  anybody,  but  real  life  is  different.  The  love  the 
poets  describe  is  pure  fancy,  my  dear.  Where  a 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  263 

little  of  it  does  exist,  or  seems  to,  it  soon  wears 
off." 

Reba  thought,  from  all  the  indications,  that  it 
must  have  worn  off  very  promptly  in  Mrs.  Blos 
som's  own  case,  and  wondered  if  a  woman  whose 
experience  had  been  such  was  really  in  a  position 
to  judge. 

As  had  been  intended  and  as  was  but  natural, 
this  conversation  was  the  source  of  serious  reflec 
tion  on  Reba's  part,  reflection  made  poignant  by 
uncontrollable  recollections  of  the  past.  A  tall 
form,  a  thin,  sallow  face  and  firm  jaw,  beautiful, 
haunting  eyes,  courage,  manliness,  integrity,  were 
elements  in  the  picture  which  would  rise  up  before 
her  in  spite  of  her  efforts  to  forget  it,  in  spite  of 
her  belief  that  the  Morton  of  the  picture  was  not 
the  true  one.  It  was  perfectly  clear  to  her  that 
Paul  Shepherd  would  be  everywhere  regarded  as 
a  desirable  suitor,  but  as  for  herself,  not  even  in 
the  most  mercenary  of  moods  could  she  so  regard 
him  —  for  a  long  while  to  come,  at  least.  His 
appearance,  his  manners,  his  ideas,  were  all  pleas 
ing  to  her,  and  she  felt  that  she  could  trust  him, 
and  yet  she  reflected  and  reflected  again,  only  to 
shake  her  head. 

He  displeased  her  only  in  one  way,  and  that  was 
not  a  personal  matter,  and  she  did  not  lay  it  up 
against  him.  Mr.  Shepherd  owned  a  large  interest 
in  a  prominent  newspaper  of  the  city,  and  did  some 
active  work  in  connection  with  it,  —  she  never  knew 


264  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

exactly  what;  and  this  newspaper,  she  observed, 
criticised  almost  every  act  of  the  first  Democratic 
administration  which  the  country  had  seen  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  Reba  had  no  clear  grasp 
of  political  questions,  but  as  a  matter  of  course 
thought  her  old  friends  in  the  South  were  right 
and  these  new  friends  were  wrong,  and  that  the 
party  in  power  deserved  its  success,  well  remem 
bering  what  great  joy  was  manifested  after  the 
election  by  everybody  in  Barcelona  except  the 
poor  deluded  negroes,  many  of  whom  supposed 
that  the  change  meant  their  return  to  slavery. 
And  so,  while  heartily  approving  of  Mr.  Shepherd 
in  every  personal  way,  she  still  more  heartily 
disapproved  of  his  paper. 

The  subject  came  up  between  them  once  in  a 
casual  way,  and  after  some  good-humored  sparring, 
he  took  pains  to  make  her  understand  his  position. 

"  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  at  least,  and  so  far 
indeed  as  any  of  my  friends  are  concerned,"  he 
assured  her,  "  the  enmity  toward  the  South  is  no 
longer  personal,  but  political.  The  South  exer 
cises  a  preponderating  influence  in  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  —  it  apparently  does  not,  but  it  really 
does,  —  and  the  principles  and  proposed  reforms  of 
that  party  are  not  such  as  we  can  sympathize  with. 
Therefore  we  criticise." 

"  But  you  are  a  reformer  yourself,"  she  said. 
"  I  liked  the  ideas  you  expressed  in  your  speech  at 
that  reform  club  meeting." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  265 

•  "Thank  you.  Yes,  I  am  a  reformer  in  my  own 
small  way.  I  hate  public  abuse  of  power;  I  scorn 
the  mere  partisan  who  stands  for  a  certain  party 
simply  for  party's  sake  and  nothing  else ;  I  think 
dishonesty  in  politics  is  even  more  criminal  than 
dishonesty  in  private  life,  and  should  be  more  rigo 
rously  punished ;  I  detest  what  is  called  the  spoils 
system ;  there  are  many  abuses  which  I  should  like 
to  see  stamped  out,  not  only  in  national  politics, 
but  in  the  government  of  my  own  State  and  city. 
But  people  differ,  you  see,  and  there  are  reforms 
and  reforms.  Those  advocated  by  the  party  now 
in  power  at  Washington  appear  to  me  to  be  the 
result  'of  a  superficial  study  of  the  public  needs 
and  to  be  based  on  fallacies;  therefore  they  are 
calculated  to  do  harm.  I  think  you  see  what  I 
mean." 

"I  do,  and  I  think  you  are  right — from  your 
standpoint,"  said  Reba,  heartily.  "  My  father,  I 
remember,  always  said  that  a  man  must  act  accord 
ing  to  his  own  convictions,  but  at  the  same  time  be 
willing  for  those  differing  with  him  to  exercise  a 
like  privilege.  I  shall  think  of  your  paper's  criti 
cism  in  a  different  way  hereafter." 

"  As  to  the  negro  question,"  he  told  her  later, 
"  I  am  inclined  to  sympathize  with  the  opinions 
of  your  friends,  or  those  of  Colonel  Sanford,  so 
far  as  I  have  heard  him  express  himself.  But  I 
doubt  if  there  be  much  hope  for  his  scheme  for 
some  years  to  come." 


266  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

u  I  don't  think  he  has  much  hope  himself,"  said 
Reba. 

"  The  trouble  is,  the  negro  question  is  still  too 
much  involved  in  politics.  And  then,  on  account 
of  the  ante-bellum  sympathy  for  the  slave,  and 
the  post-bellum  sympathy  for  the  freedman  be 
lieved  to  be  ill-treated,  as  well  as  on  account  of 
sentimental  illusions  in  regard  to  the  character  of 
the  black  man  which  have  formed  a  part  of  our 
early  education,  we  Northerners  instinctively  take 
the  side  of  the  negro.  When  the  question  shall 
have  successfully  shaken  itself  loose  from  politics, 
if  the  time  ever  comes,  then  the  whole  country 
may  be  willing  to  take  it  up  and  consider  it  on  its 
own  merits.  Then  perhaps  it  may  be  possible 
for  the  colonel's  scheme  to  be  developed  and 
accomplished." 

On  the  day  after  the  conversation  with  Mrs. 
Blossom  outlined  above,  Reba  received  a  long 
letter  from  Betty  which  temporarily  obliterated 
from  her  mind  all  thought  of  her  prospective  new 
suitor,  but  caused  her  later  to  reflect  upon  the 
matter  more  seriously  than  ever.  After  detailing 
household  news  and  making  some  reference  to 
what  Reba  had  written  about  her  experiences  in 
Philadelphia,  Betty  touched  on  the  subject  of 
Morton.  "  He  has  not  been  near  us  since  you 
left,"  she  wrote.  "  Mamma  and  I  feel  rather  hurt, 
considering  that  he  formerly  came  so  often.  I 
think  he  must  have  been  dreadfully  cut  up  by 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  267 

your  letter.  I  have  only  seen  him  once  and  he 
looked  miserable ;  I  never  saw  him  look  so.  He 
was  sitting  on  the  St.  Glairs'  piazza,  the  other  after 
noon  when  we  drove  by.  Maud  was  not  there. 
He  was  talking  with  John  St.  Clair.  By  the  way, 
he  asked  papa  for  your  address  yesterday." 

There  was  no  mistake,  then.  The  vague,  fugi 
tive  hope  which  Reba  detected  in  her  heart  now 
and  then  that  there  was  something  wrong,  that  her 
idol  had  not  fallen,  that  that  horrible,  villanous 
letter  might  be  explained,  was  only  weakness  and 
folly  which  should  be  determinedly  shunned.  He 
was  now  visiting  Miss  St.  Clair  as  a  matter  of 
course ;  and  if  he  looked  miserable,  it  was  because 
his  chills  had  returned  —  nothing  more.  Never 
theless,  when,  on  the  following  day,  his  own  letter 
was  handed  to  her,  Reba  opened  it  with  trembling 
hands. 

"  Your  letter  was  received  more  than  three  weeks 
ago,"  he  wrote,  "  and  I  beg  to  apologize  for  not 
answering  before.  My  excuse  is  that  only  now 
have  I  obtained  your  address,  and  that  at  first  I 
was  too  occupied  with  surprise  to  think  of  asking 
for  it.  I  was  like  one  struck  dumb  and  blind  and 
did  not  know  what  to  do,  but  the  less  said  of  that 
the  better.  You  say  that  you  have  discovered  that 
you  were  deceiving  yourself,  and  you  ask  to  be  re 
leased.  Although  this  change  was  so  sudden  and 
unexpected,  I  have  no  right  to  blame  you  or  to  feel 
resentment,  and  I  do  not.  As  for  myself,  I  wish  I 


268  THE   SONS  OF  HAM. 

could  change  as  easily.  I  fear  that  I  can  never 
change,  but  I  freely  release  you.  God  bless  you 
and  good-by !  " 

This  letter,  which  was  far  more  suggestive  of  the 
sad  farewell  of  a  breaking  heart  than  the  courteous 
response  of  a  fickle  lover  glad  to  be  released, 
aroused  feelings  in  Reba  which  she  acknowledged 
with  abject  humiliation  and  terror.  She  told  her 
self  that  it  was  well  she  had  run  away,  for  this  man 
could  persuade  her  even  in  the  face  of  proofs,  — 
this  ruin  of  the  noblest  of  men.  In  spite  of  her 
struggles,  she  recalled  and  dwelt  upon  the  many 
qualities  she  had  formerly  admired  in  him.  How 
strangely  conflicting  must  be  the  elements  of  his 
character !  —  for  she  had  had  reason  to  know  how 
he  once  scorned  dishonesty,  deceit,  sycophancy ? 
mercenary  motives,  and  self-seeking  in  general ; 
she  had  always  expected  him  to  develop  into 
such  a  man  as  Colonel  Sanford,  and  even  his 
superior. 

But  what  could  be  meant  by  such  expressions  as 
"  struck  blind  and  dumb,"  "  can  never  change," 
coming  from  a  man  who  had  avowed  his  love  for 
and  was  paying  court  to  another  woman,  unless 
they  were  written  purposely  to  deceive  and  from  a 
desire  to  appear  consistent  and  honorable?  Could 
it  be  that  he  had  not  yet  discovered  his  error  in 
sending  her  Miss  St.  Clair's  letter?  Or  was  the 
error  only  a  seeming  one,  and  a  part  of  his  plan  to 
obtain  his  release?  Bewildered  amid  such  vain 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  269 

speculation,  and  humiliated  by  the  consciousness  of 
her  own  weakness,  Reba  put  Morton's  letter  away 
and  hurriedly  sought  companionship  and  diver 
sion;  and  during  several  days  Mrs.  Blossom 
observed  that  she  seemed  troubled  and  absent  in 
mind. 


XVIII. 

THE  musical  people  came  by  appointment  a  few 
days  later,  each  prepared  to  contribute  to  the 
evening's  entertainment.  There  were  not  more 
than  a  dozen  of  them  altogether,  and  the  majority 
were  either  wholly  or  semi-professional.  They 
were  not  members  of  "  society,"  but  were  all  per 
sonally  known  to  Mrs.  Blossom.  First  in  impor 
tance  was  Signer  Blondinera,  an  insignificant-look 
ing  little  man,  who  enjoyed  the  highest  reputation 
.  as  a  music-master  of  the  Italian  school.  After  him 
ranked  a  lady  whose  name  was  sometimes  printed 
on  local  concert  programmes  as  "  prima  donna 
contralto,"  and  after  her  a  young  man  somewhat 
less  distinguished  as  a  tenor.  Among  the  non- 
professionals  were  a  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Kolbe,  cele 
brated  for  their  devotion  to  the  great  German 
masters,  and  a  young  lady  pianist  of  unusual 
talent. 

Signer  Blondinera  "  opened  the  ball,"  playing  an 
exceedingly  erratic  and  florid  composition,  which 


THE  SONS   OF  HAM.  271 

he  was  prevailed  on  to  acknowledge  as  a  "  trifle  " 
of  his  own.  The  prima  donna  then  sang  an  effec 
tive  contralto  solo  passage  from  one  of  Verdi's 
operas,  and  a  simple  English  song  in  response  to 
an  encore.  The  lady  pianist  gave  a  stirring  ren 
dition  of  a  Chopin  nocturne,  and  was  followed 
by  the  tenor  in  some  beautiful  selections  from 
Lohengrin.  After  a  recess  the  German  doctor  and 
his  wife  sang  a  Mendelssohn  duet,  and  played 
together  a  severely  classical  selection  from  Brahms. 
Everybody  applauded  after  the  last,  but  it  was 
probable  that  nobody  understood  it  but  the  Kolbes 
themselves,  who  smilingly  declared  that  they  had 
played  it  together  every  night  for  seven  years. 
Italian  courtesy  compelled  the  great  Blondinera  to 
applaud,  but  a  composition  so  quiet  and  profound 
was  unintelligible  to  him,  being  quite  antipodal  to 
the  fire  and  glow  of  the  beloved  music  of  his  native 
land. 

Reba's  turn  came  last.  -  Full  of  dread  in  advance, 
she  was  surprised  to  find  herself  so  self-possessed 
when  the  moment  arrived.  Mrs.  Blossom  had 
chosen  for  her  a  simple  lullaby  of  Mendelssohn's, 
and  the  girl  now  sung  it  very  sweetly,  with  appar 
ent  ease  and  without  affectation.  When  it  was 
over  she  was  made  very  happy,  for  the  moment, 
on  discovering  that  she  had  pleased  these  critical 
people.  It  was  clear  that  the  applause  and  the  ex 
pressions  of  gratification  were  genuine.  Even  the 
professionals  were  generous  of  their  praise. 


272  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

"  I  told  you  once  that  you  had  the  true  dramatic 
instinct,"  said  Mr.  Shepherd,  who  had  appeared  in 
time  to  hear  her  song.  "  Now  let  me  add  that  I 
think  you  have  the  true  musical  instinct  as  well." 

"  If  I  had  your  voice  I  'd  do  nothing  but  study 
music,"  said  Dr.  Kolbe,  and  poor  Reba's  inexperi 
ence  led  her  to  believe  that  all  this  meant  a  great 
deal  more  than  was  intended. 

Signer  Blondinera  said  nothing  to  her,  but  at 
eleven  o'clock  when  coffee  and  light  refreshment 
were  served,  as  he  sat  apart  with  Mrs.  Blossom  he 
looked  now  and  then  toward  Reba  as  if  she  occu 
pied  his  attention. 

"  I  tell-a  to  you  her  voice  will-a  be  good,"  he  was 
saying.  "  'T  is  sweet,  'tis  r-rich,  'tis  r-round; 
myself,  I  did  enjoy  to  hear  it." 

"  I  am  glad  you  did.  I  wanted  you  to  hear 
her.  Do  you  think  she  could  make  a  successful 
singer?" 

"  Such  a  voice,  it  is  at  once  successful.  Cer- 
tainlee." 

"  But  I  mean,  —  as  a  public  singer." 

The  maestro  shrugged,  and  Mrs.  Blossom  saw 
that  she  would  receive  no  direct  or  satisfactory 
answer  to  this  question.  "Who  can-a  tell?"  he 
remarked.  "  The  voice,  't  is  char-r-ming  most 
certainlee." 

"  You  don't  think  she  could  become  a  rival  of 
the  greatest  singers,  then,  —  Patti,  for  instance?" 
laughed  Mrs.  Blossom. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  273 

The  Italian  started,  smiled,  and  elevated  his 
eyes  heavenward.  Was  it  Patti  who  had  been  re 
ferred  to?  —  Patti  the  divine,  the  incomparable! 
"  Madame,"  he  said,  excitedly,  careless  of  his  use 
of  that  horrible  English  which  he  had  tried  so  hard 
to  learn,  "  dere  eez  but  de  one  Patti  in  de  wor-r-ld, 
—  de  one  prima  donna  what  git  five  tousand  dollah 
de  night !  " 

Before  taking  their  afternoon  drive  in  the  park 
the  next  day  Mrs.  Blossom  stopped  with  Reba  at 
the  houses  of  several  'professors  of  vocal  culture.' 
The  first  was  a  German,  Franz  Meissner  by  name, 
a  heavy,  thickset  man,  with  dark,  restless  eyes,  who 
shocked  his  callers  by  receiving  them  in  dressing- 
gown,  slippers,  and  a  collar  which  appeared  to  have 
been  worn  two  weeks.  Reflecting  that  this  was 
perhaps  the  eccentricity  of  genius,  they  felt  in 
clined  to  forgive  all  but  the  last  item.  Mrs.  Blos 
som  stated  that  her  companion  thought  of  a 
singer's  career,  and  they  would  like  him  to  try  her 
voice;  Signer  Blondinera  had  heard  it  and  ad 
mired  it  greatly. 

"Blondinera  —  piff!"  ejaculated  Herr  Meissner 
with  a  shrug  so  gigantic  that  he  seemed  in  danger 
of  dislocating  his  neck.  "Blondinera,  eh?"  his 
expression  seemed  to  repeat,  —  "  that  miserable 
Italian  who  tinkered  at  music !  Come,  let  us  see," 
he  said  aloud,  and  led  the  way  to  the  piano. 

Striking  a  few  chords,  he  half  lost  himself  in  a 
revery  over  them,  then  rousing  himself  he  put  a 

18 


274  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

sheet  of  music  against  the  rack  and  called  upon 
Reba  to  sing.  It  happened  to  be  something 
with  which  she  was  familiar  and  she  sang  without 
hesitation. 

"  She  duss  not  know  how  to  open  her  mouth," 
he  announced,  stopping  abruptly  in  the  middle  of 
the  piece.  "  She  vill  have  to  vork,  vork,  vork." 

"  But  what  do  you  think  of  the  quality  of  her 
voice?" 

"  Her  voice  is  goot,  but  it  iss  not  str-rong." 

"  Mr.  Blondinera  thinks  he  can  build  it  up," 
ventured  Mrs.  Blossom. 

"  Built  it  up,  —  Blondinera?  "  cried  the  German. 
"  He  vill  built  it  up  so  foolish  ass  he  can. 
Young  laity  "  —  turning  to  Reba,  —  "  if  you  vill 
come  to  me  andt  vill  vork,  I  vill  teasch  you  to 
sing." 

"  Do  you  think  she  could  succeed  as  a  public 
singer?  "  insisted  Mrs.  Blossom. 

"  She  can  do  anyt'ing  if  she  vill  vork,"  —  after 
another  mighty  shrug. 

They  next  called  upon  a  lady  teacher,  an 
American,  who  indulged  in  much  flattery,  promis 
ing  great  things  for  "  such  a  voice,"  —  at  once 
exciting  suspicion  of  insincerity.  Mrs.  Blossom 
led  Reba  back  to  the  carriage  without  waste  of 
time. 

"  American  teachers  are  best,"  they  were  confi 
dently  assured,  as  they  moved  to  go.  "  There  is 
too  much  affectation  about  these  foreign  teachers." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  275 

"  The  safest  plan  would  be,  I  think,  to  go  to  the 
one  who  promised  the  least,"  said  Mrs.  Blossom  as 
they  drove  on  toward  Fairmount  Park.  "  I  don't 
trust  this  woman.  As  to  the  others,  it  is  a  ques 
tion  which  one  was  the  more  guarded,  the  Italian 
or  the  German." 

Reba  unhesitatingly  declared  that  she  personally 
preferred  the  former,  and  her  friend  agreed,  adding : 
"  That  conceited,  vulgar  German  may  be  more 
thorough,  but  how  could  you  endure  him?  Blon- 
dinera  is  much  more  respectable." 

A  few  minutes  later  their  attention  was  attracted 
to  the  following  legend  in  a  window  which  they 
were  passing,  "  Signer  Wilkini,  Teacher  of  Singing 
and  Piano,"  and  the  coachman  was  told  to  stop. 
Mrs.  Blossom  did  not  know  of  this  instructor  by 
reputation,  but  proposed  to  call  on  him  by  way  of 
experiment.  An  agreeable-looking  gray-haired 
lady  opened  the  door  and  ushered  them  into  the 
parlor,  where,  after  a  few  moments,  the  supposed 
Italian  appeared,  —  rather  a  young  man,  not  in  the 
least  foreign,  and  speaking  without  accent. 

"  Are  you  Signer  Wilkini?  " 

"  At  your  service.  You  are  thinking  that  I 
have  the  appearance  of  an  American,  and  perhaps 
you  are  right.  Most  of  my  life  has  been  spent  in 
this  country,  although  I  am  an  Italian." 

"  Ah?  Well,  we  wanted  to  —  "  and  Mrs.  Blos 
som  explained. 

Reba's  voice  was  again  tried,  and  this  time  most 


276  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

recklessly  flattered.  It  was  a  remarkable  voice; 
yes,  indeed.  Such  a  voice  was  bound  to  find  its 
way  to  the  stage.  He  inquired  if  the  young  lady 
had  studied  dramatic  action ;  she  should  do  so  by 
all  means.  He  taught  this  as  well  as  vocal  culture. 

"  Do  you  really  think  she  could  succeed  on  the 
stage?" 

*'  Yes,  indeed,"  declared  Signer  Wilkini,  with 
enthusiasm.  "  To  get  started  would  be  the  only 
difficulty.  But  I  could  arrange  that.  An  opening 
is  easily  managed  by  one  of  the  initiated,  you 
know.  I  gave  one  of  my  young  lady  pupils  a 
brilliant  start  last  fall.  She  was  only  studying 
dramatic  action,  however.  I  got  her  in  at  one 
theatre  to  go  on  in  a  minor  part  for  nothing,  and 
she  made  a  pleasant  impression.  And  while  it 
lasted  —  while  it  lasted,  mind  you  —  I  went  to  an 
other  manager  and  told  him  that  she  was  getting 
fifty  dollars  a  week,  but  that  I  would  prefer  to 
have  her  in  his  company  for  less.  He  wanted 
another  lady,  and  we  finally  came  to  terms  at  forty 
dollars ;  and  so  I  started  her  off  at  a  salary  of  forty 
dollars  a  week  through  just  a  little  business  diplo 
macy,  you  see." 

The  two  ladies  exchanged  glances  and  con 
cluded  that  it  was  time  to  go. 

"  I  wonder  if  that  man  thought  I  would  consent 
to  such  fraud,"  said  Reba,  when  they  were  seated 
in  the  carriage.  "  How  disheartening  all  this 
is!" 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  277 

"  Don't  think  of  his  odious  talk,"  said  Mrs.  Blos 
som.  "  He  's  not  respectable ;  his  low  prices  show 
that.  Signor  Wilkini"  she  added,  in  disgust. 
"  I  believe  he  is  a  native  Philadelphian,  and  his  real 
name  is  Wilkins.  I  suppose  he  sails  under  false 
colors  for  the  sake  of  Italian  prestige  in  musical 
matters.  He  is  a  musical  quack." 

Signor  Blondinera  was  again  consulted  the  fol 
lowing  day,  and  it  was  definitely  determined  that 
Reba  should  study  both  vocal  and  instrumental 
music  under  his  direction.  Mr.  Shepherd  showed 
plainly  that  he  applauded  her  resolution  to  make 
herself  independent  of  her  relatives  by  fitting 
herself  for  lucrative  employment,  but  took  oc 
casion  to  warn  her  not  to  be  over-sanguine  of 
success. 

"  I  think,"  he  said  a  few  days  later,  when  calling 
her  attention  to  "  Charles  Auchester,"  a  musical 
novel,  "  I  think  from  what  my  aunt  tells  me,  you 
may  have  been  led  to  expect  too  much.  Success 
on  the  lyric  stage  is  very  difficult  to  attain,  I  im 
agine,  and  I  fancy  the  average  '  professor  of  vocal 
culture '  is  not  much  troubled  with  pangs  of  con 
science.  I  have  heard  shocking  stories  of  de 
ception  practised  on  ambitious  young  American 
aspirants  in  Italy,  who  are  led  on  and  fed  upon 
encouragement  until  the  years  have  slipped  by 
and  their  money  is  all  gone,  only  to  find  that  they 
can  accomplish  nothing.  I  doubt  if  the  average 
teacher  in  this  country  is  really  much  more  trust- 


278  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

worthy,  except  perhaps  where  he  has  more  pupils 
than  he  wants.  I  hope  you  will  take  this  sugges 
tion,"  he  added,  "  in  the  spirit  it  is  offered." 

Reba  expressed  sincere  thanks,  assuring  him 
that  she  knew  better  than  to  expect  too  much. 
After  all,  she  thought  seriously  only  of  going 
South  to  teach  music ;  the  other  was  a  mere  dream. 
"  I  have  n't  fully  made  up  my  mind  that  I  should 
want  to  be  a  singer  if  I  could,"  she  added ;  where 
upon  he  showed  pleased  surprise. 

"  I  am  glad  to  know  this,"  he  said  frankly,  "  for 
really  I  doubt  if  there  is  much  hope.  I  have 
heard  many  singers,  and  it  does  not  seem  to  me 
that  your  voice  could  ever  be  powerful  enough  to 
fill  an  opera  house.  It  is  sweet,  sympathetic, 
beautiful  indeed  —  to  me,"  he  added  softly,  "  but 
I  don't  think  it  was  ever  intended  for  the  public." 

This  and  similar  conversations  established  be 
tween  them  a  certain  degree  of  intimacy  which 
had  not  existed  hitherto,  and  which  was  a  source 
of  great  satisfaction  to  Mrs.  Blossom,  that  lady's 
eccentric  fancy  for  Reba  having  ere  this  developed 
into  a  strong  affection.  What  with  her  studies 
and  her  social  engagements,  the  girl  was  hence 
forth  very  busy,  and  a  few  weeks  later  Betty 
wrote  complaining  that  her  cousin  had  forgotten 
Barcelona. 

It  was  now  near  the  end  of  March,  and,  having 
spent  two  months  under  Mrs.  Blossom's  hospitable 
roof,  Reba  contemplated  securing  a  boarding-place 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  279 

at  an  early  day,  in  spite  of  the  vigorous  protest  of 
her  friend,  who  wished  her  to  stay  where  she  was. 
She  dreaded  the  change,  but  was  convinced  that 
her  visit  should  not  be  further  prolonged,  and  that 
she  would  make  more  rapid  progress  in  her  studies 
if  distracted  by  less  social  life. 

"  Mamma  thinks  the  idea  of  your  singing  on 
the  stage  is  simply  frightful,"  wrote  Betty.  "  She 
cannot  see  how  it  can  be  even  respectable,  nor 
can  papa.  It  is  amusing  to  hear  him  talk  about  it. 
He  says  he  always  thought  Aunt  Mary  was  '  awful 
particular'  about  you,  but  he  has  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  she  was  n't  particular  enough ;  she 
certainly  ought  to  have  taught  you  that  it  would 
not  be  lady-like  and  seemly  to  make  a  '  show- 
woman  '  of  yourself.  Papa  has  a  great  deal  of 
shrewd  common-sense,  and  knowledge  too,  in  his 
own  range,  but  he  does  n't  know  that  there  is 
any  difference  between  Nilsson  and  the  common 
song-and-dance  '  show-girl,'  and  probably  thinks 
the  opera  is  similar  to  the  unbearable  '  concert ' 
which  comes  after  the  circus  is  over.  I  overheard 
mamma  telling  Mr.  Straitlace  about  it,  and  he  shook 
his  head  solemnly,  reminding  her  that  you  had 
never  been  '  convicted  of  sin.'  You  had  thus  wil 
fully  exposed  yourself  to  the  wiles  of  the  Evil  One, 
who  will  always  take  an  ell  if  you  give  him  an  inch, 
or  words  to  that  effect.  He  generously  offered 
to  pray  for  you  every  day,  and  I  trust  you  will  be 
duly  grateful,  you  hardened  sinner !  So  much  for 


280  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

going  off  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  consorting 
with  Yankees.  After  he  was  gone  I  found  mamma 
crying.  That  put  me  in  a  '  state  of  mind '  at 
once,  and  I  was  irreverent  enough  to  declare  that 
the  Rev.  Jonathan  Straitlace  was  a  backswoods 
country  cracker  and  did  n't  know  what  he  was 
talking  about. 

"  I  have  some  news  for  you  about  Charlie.  He 
gave  you  up  long  ago,  of  course,  and  now  you  will 
be  glad  to  know  that  he  is  on  the  high  road  toward 
consolation.  That  is  the  way  with  men.  One  rose 
seems  to  be  as  sweet  as  another  to  them,  —  that  is, 
after  a  slight  interval  devoted  to  sighs  and  gloomy 
reflection.  I  mean  that  Charlie  has  gone  to  Aman 
da  Turner  for  comfort,  and  will  no  doubt  get  it. 
I  always  felt  that  she  liked  him.  My  greatest  fear 
is  that  he  will  make  too  easy  a  conquest,  —  a 
dangerous  thing  for  all  concerned.  He  took  her 
out  in  his  buggy  yesterday,  and  when  he  came 
back  he  was  in  a  better  humor  than  I  have  seen 
him  for  a  long  time.  I  'd  like  to  see  him  marry 
Kate  Lawton,  but  Amanda  is  a  nice  girl,  and  I 
suppose  one's  brother  must  choose  for  himself. 

"  If  we  can  trust  appearances,  another  young 
man  is  seeking  consolation,  too,  but  I  am  not  so 
sure  that  he  will  get  it.  Who  do  you  suppose? 
None  other  than  my  quondam  admirer,  Jim  Jones, 
the  immortal  '  knight  of  the  plough.'  The  object  of 
his  constant  attentions  is  —  you  would  never  guess 
—  Miss  Francie  Black.  At  one  time  I  suspected 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  281 

that  she  thought  too  much  about  that  enigma,  Rob 
Morton,  but  it  may  have  been  only  my  imagination. 
At  any  rate,  she  accepts  Mr.  Jones's  attentions,  and 
they  seem  to  have  become  great  friends.  He  drives 
out  with  her  frequently.  She  seems  to  be  trying 
to  cultivate  and  improve  him,  poor  fellow.  She 
told  me  that  she  had  persuaded  him  to  take  a 
Chautauqua  course  of  reading.  He  certainly  is 
manly  and  has  a  good  heart,  and  if  she  can  stand 
his  clumsiness  and  his  4  sweaty '  hands,  his  '  I 
taken  '  and  '  I  ain't  got  no,'  etc.,  etc.,  she  may  be 
happy  with  him.  It  will  be  the  last  match  in  the 
world  I  should  have  predicted.  Philip  Gordon 
is  paying  her  particular  attentions  also,  and  it 
looks  as  if  she  will  be  able  to  take  her  choice 
of  the  two.  Phil  is  at  least  a  gentleman,  and  in 
other  ways  seems  to  me  worthy  of  the  really  fine 
character  Miss  Black  is. 

"  I  know  a  fourth  young  man  who  apparently  is 
not  seeking  consolation.  When  I  saw  him  at  the 
St.  Glairs'  that  day,  six  weeks  or  so  ago,  I  thought 
he  was,  and  that  the  next  thing  we  knew  he  would 
be  visiting  Maud  regularly  and  taking  her  out  to 
entertainments.  But  he  has  n't  done  it.  They  say 
he  scarcely  goes  anywhere  at  all.  If  you  have 
changed,  he  has  not,  —  or  so  it  seems.  His  case 
is  doubtless  more  troublesome  than  the  ordinary, 
-  the  wound  went  deeper,  and  it  will  take  time 
to  cure  him.  Reba,  dearie,  why  is  it  you  and  I 
are  so  hard  to  please?  It  has  slowly  been  re- 


282  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

vealed  to  me  that,  after  all,  I  did  not  love  poor  dear 
Jack  as  I  should  have  done.  I  loved  him  rather 
as  a  brother  or  a  dear  cousin,  and  in  that  way  I 
mourn  for  him  now.  It  is  best  to  be  candid  with 
one's  self,  don't  you  think  so?  I  fear  I  shall  be  an 
old  maid;  but  you,  Reba  —  you  must  n't!  If  you 
can't  love  Robert  Morton,  there  are  other  fish,  etc. 
Perhaps  your  fate  may  be  that  young  Philadelphian 
whose  remote  ancestors  presumably  tended  sheep. 
I  liked  his  looks  when  I  saw  him  here  at  the  tour 
nament.  He  looked  like  a  man,  —  not  more  so 
than  the  one  you  have  rejected,  however." 

On  reading  that  part  of  the  letter  which  referred 
to  Morton,  Reba  was  again  stirred  with  conflicting 
emotions,  and  certain  feelings  came  to  the  surface 
wKich  she  believed  she  had  conquered.  But  she 
soon  summoned  the  resolution  and  strength  to  put 
them  down,  telling  herself  that  the  only  reasonable 
explanation  of  Morton's  reported  behavior  was  to 
be  sought  in  the  probable  failure  of  his  designs. 
Miss  St.  Clair  had  doubtless  not  been  satisfied  with 
his  plea,  had  suspected  his  mercenary  motives,  and 
perceived  the  insincerity  of  his  protestations.  So 
had  he  failed,  and  now  deservedly  suffered  from  dis 
appointment  and  humiliation. 

Of  late  it  had  been  more  and  more  clearly  indi 
cated  to  Reba  that  Paul  Shepherd  intended  ere 
long  to  ask  her  to  become  his  wife,  and  although 
she  studiously  avoided  giving  him  encouragement, 
she  gradually  was  more  inclined  to  dwell  on  the 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  283 

matter  in  her  thought  In  proportion  as  she  strug 
gled  successfully  to  shut  her  mind  to  every  tender 
recollection  of  her  former  lover,  she  smarted  the 
more  acutely  under  the  indignity  which  she  be 
lieved  he  had  put  upon  her,  and  was  the  more 
ready  to  contemplate  the  character  of  another 
suitor  whom  she  respected  and  admired.  Invol 
untarily  she  contrasted  the  worldly  aspects  of  life 
as  the  wife  of  a  poor  Barcelona  lawyer  and  a  rich 
Philadelphian  of  the  leading  class.  The  former 
would  be  narrow,  perhaps  even  straitened,  and 
socially  dull;  the  latter  would  be  one  continuing 
scene  of  luxury,  social  triumph,  and  opportunity 
for  every  species  of  mental  exhilaration  and  expan 
sion, —  an  existence  for  which  she  was  fitted  by 
nature  and  inherent  tendency. 

The  one  cloud  which  darkly  overshadowed  this 
alluring  picture  was  the  fact  that  her  heart  was 
cold.  She  regarded  young  Shepherd  with  respect, 
admiration,  and  friendship,  but  the  fear  haunted 
her  that  she  would  never  love  any  man  again. 
But  —  after  all  —  what  if  love  were  mere  fancy  (as 
Mrs.  Blossom  claimed),  which  soon  deserted  its 
helpless  victims  and  left  them  to  the  horrors  of 
disillusion  and  regret?  Did  not  respect,  admira 
tion,  and  friendship  form  a  safer  basis  to  start  from 
and  fall  back  upon  for  those  who  must  take  the 
terrible  leap  in  the  dark  ?  The  question  repeatedly 
propounded  itself  in  her  mind  as  to  whether  it 
could  be  the  part  of  wisdom  to  surrender  all  that  a 


284  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

marriage  with  Shepherd  involved  for  the  sake  of  a 
bright,  foolish  dream  which  had  ended  in  the  dis 
covery  that  her  idol  was  made  of  clay  instead  of 
gold. 

The  temptation  was  persistent  and  strong,  but 
she  never  quite  yielded  to  it,  even  for  a  moment. 
"  I  would  rather  see  you  in  your  grave  than  see 
you  marry  for  anything  but  love,"  her  mother  had 
said,  and  she  had  not  forgotten.  Nor  —  try  as  she 
might  —  could  she  as  yet  shut  her  mind  completely 
to  the  recollection  of  Morton.  And  so,  when, 
about  ten  days  after  she  received  the  last  letter 
from  Betty,  Paul  Shepherd  came  perilously  near  a 
declaration,  and  she  needed  only  to  give  him  a 
word  or  even  a  look  in  order  to  bring  him  to  her 
feet,  she  took  care  to  overlook  his  meaning  and 
divert  him  from  his  aim. 

Returning  from  the  opera  under  his  escort,  on  a 
Saturday  evening  within  a  day  or  two  of  this  occur 
rence,  she  found  the  following  telegram  awaiting 
her:- 

Charlie  Walton,  Sam  Thomas,  and  George  McLeod 
killed  in  riot  with  negroes.  Jim  Jones  and  Rob  Morton 
dangerously  wounded.  Matilda  hopes  you  will  come. 

ADAM  BROWN. 


XIX. 

REBA  found  the  telegram  lying  on  the  table  in 
her  chamber  and  was  alone  when  she  read  it. 
Five  minutes  later  Mrs.  Blossom  was  summoned. 
Miss  Lawrence  was  very  unwell  —  so  declared  the 
excited  maid ;  she  had  fallen  on  the  floor  and  now 
lay  in  a  deep  swoon.  When  they  reached  her  she 
was  already  recovering  consciousness  and  needed 
only  to  be  assisted  to  a  lounge,  where  they  insisted 
on  giving  her  something  to  drink,  and  endeavored 
to  make  her  comfortable. 

"  You  are  tired,  Reba,"  said  Mrs.  Blossom. 
"  You  have  been  doing  and  going  too  much,  and 
you  must  have  absolute  rest  for  a  few  days." 

"  I  never  fainted  before,"  said  the  girl,  almost  in 
a  whisper.  "  The  shock  was  so  —  terrible  !  The 
telegram  —  "  Her  voice  failed  and  the  muscles  of 
her  face  contracted  in  pain. 

The  maid  picked  up  the  bit  of  yellow  paper  from 
the  floor  and  presented  it  to  her  mistress,  who 
swiftly  absorbed  the  words  :  "  Charlie  Walton,  Sam 
Thomas,  and  George  McLeod  killed  in  riot  with 


286  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

negroes.  Jim  Jones  and  Bob  Morton  dangerously 
wounded.  Matilda  hopes  you  will  come." 

"  My  poor  darling  !  — and  these  are  your  friends," 
murmured  Mrs.  Blossom,  horror-struck. 

"  One  of  them,  Charlie  Walton,  is  my  cousin,  — 
almost  my  brother.  You  saw  him  —  he  crowned 
me,"  said  Reba  haltingly,  with  the  manner  of 
one  stunned.  Her  thought  leaped  at  once  to  an 
other  one,  —  the  last  mentioned,  —  but  she  said 
nothing  of  him.  "  Aunt  Matilda  —  his  mother  — 
wants  me,  and  I  must  go,"  she  added. 

"Yes,  dear  child,  you  must  go."  Mrs.  Blossom 
embraced  the  girl  tenderly.  "  And  after  a  few 
weeks  you  will  come  back  to  us  and  —  go  on  with 
your  studies." 

"  I  must  go  by  the  first  train,"  said  Reba,  appar 
ently  not  hearing  her  friend's  last  words. 

"Yes  —  if  you  are  strong  enough." 

"  I  '11  be  strong  enough  in  a  few  minutes." 

"I  suppose  it  will  be  safe  to  go?  The  fighting 
will  probably  be  over  by  the  time  you  arrive." 

"  I  will  go  anyhow." 

"  Marie,"  said  Mrs.  Blossom,  addressing  the 
maid,  "  call  Powell  and  tell  him  to  go  instantly  to 
the  Broad  Street  station  and  find  out  when  the  next 
through  train  goes  South.  Tell  him  to  ask  about 
the  sleeper,  —  a  Savannah  sleeper." 

The  butler  returned  in  half  an  hour  with  the 
information  that  a  train  had  just  gone,  and  that 
another  would  not  go  until  7:20  in  the  morning. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  287 

It  was  now  midnight.  Mrs.  Blossom,  who  had  re 
ceived  this  intelligence  at  the  door,  returned  to 
Reba's  couch,  and  it  was  at  once  decided  that  the 
latter  would  take  the  early  morning  train. 

"  You  had  better  come  with  me  to  the  room 
adjoining  mine  and  try  to  get  some  sleep,"  pro 
posed  the  elder  lady  after  a  few  moments.  "  The 
maids  will  be  busy  here  packing  your  trunks.  Get 
Ann  to  help  you,"  she  added,  addressing  the  woman 
who  was  present,  "  and  tell  Powell  to  be  sure  that 
they  are  at  the  station  in  time." 

Ten  minutes  later  the  butler  was  again  summoned 
by  the  mistress  of  the  house,  who  gave  him  a  sealed 
letter.  "  See  that  Mr.  Shepherd  gets  this  to-night," 
she  said.  "  It  is  important,  and  if  he  has  already 
retired  he  must  be  wakened." 
•  At  seven  o'clock  next  morning  a  handsome  car 
riage  driven  by  a  coachman  in  full  livery,  and  dis 
tinguished  by  a  coat-of-arms  emblazoned  on  its 
panels  attracted  the  attention  of  the  passing  stream 
of  pedestrians  as  it  drew  up  in  front  of  the  Broad 
Street  station.  A  few  halted  in  order  to  see  the 
occupants  of  this  uncommon  turnout,  but  were 
evidently  disappointed  on  beholding  two  veiled 
and  quietly  dressed  ladies  descend  to  the  pave 
ment.  Entering  the  station,  these  promptly  as 
cended  to  the  ladies'  waiting-room,  where  they  were 
at  once  joined  by  a  young  man. 

"You  have  just  ten  minutes  before  the  gate 
opens,"  said  Mr.  Shepherd  ;  and  then  in  a  few  well- 
chosen  words  he  expressed  to  Reba  his  regret  for 


288  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

what  had  occurred  and  his  sympathy  for  her  and 
her  friends. 

"  I  am  coming  to  the  conclusion,"  he  said  after 
ward,  "  that  we  Northerners  know  less  about  those 
race  troubles  in  the  South  than  we  think  we  do. 
We  have  long  been  disposed  to  think  that  all  such 
troubles  have  their  origin  in  politics,  but  it  seems 
more  and  more  clear  that  it  is  not  a  struggle  of  one 
political  party  against  another,  but  is  one  of  race 
against  race,  in  which  immemorial  history  repeats 
itself.  All  this  bloodshed  could  scarcely  have  re 
sulted  from  the  mere  act  of  an  infamous  outlaw  in 
resisting  arrest  in  a  country  inhabited  by  one  homo 
geneous  people.  It  is  race  antipathy  which  origi 
nates,  aggravates,  and  continues  this  conflict." 

(t  Let  us  not  discuss  the  question  now,"  said  Mrs. 
Blossom,  rising.  "  I  am  going  out  there  to  get 
some  of  those  flowers,"  she  announced,  and  took 
her  way  to  the  larger  general  waiting-room.  She 
seemed  in  no  hurry,  bending  over  the  flower-stand 
and  deliberately  inspecting  each  variety  exhibited 
there,  and  asking  the  price.  Fully  five  minutes 
had  elapsed  before  she  returned. 

"At  such  a  time,"  Paul  Shepherd  had  said  to 
Reba,  "  you  can  hardly  conclude  definitely  as  to 
your  future  plans,  but  I  suppose  —  I  hope  —  you 
intend  to  return  to  Philadelphia  and  continue 
your  —  " 

"  I  suppose  so,"  faltered  the  girl,  with  a  quiver 
ing  of  the  lip  which  was  hidden  by  her  veil.  "  But 
I  can't  tell.  I  can't  think." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  289 

"At  least, —  I  hope, "he  said, with  lowered  voice, 
"  that  if  you  do  not  return  I  may —  may  visit  you 
at  your  home  in  the  South?  " 

Reba  heard  him  dreamily,  her  thoughts  being 
full  of  him  she  had  loved,  and  who  was  now  per 
haps  dying,  and  she  answered  with  an  effort :  — 

"  Certainly.  It  will  always  be  a  pleasure  to  see 
you.  After  Mrs.  Blossom  you  have  been  the 
kindest  of  my  friends  here,  and  I  should  be  very 
sorry  if  you  were  to  pass  through  Georgia  with 
out  stopping  to  see  us." 

He  was  disappointed  in  this  reply  and  checked 
himself.  He  had  meant  her  to  understand  that  he 
would  desire  to  travel  a  thousand  miles  solely  on 
her  account;  she  doubtless  so  understood  his 
words,  but  preferred  to  appear  to  think  of  his 
proposed  visit  as  a  mere  incident  of  a  journey  to 
Florida.  He  looked  at  his  watch,  and  said  the 
train  was  probably  in  by  this  time.  At  this  junc 
ture  Mrs.  Blossom  appeared  and  presented  Reba 
with  a  small  bouquet  of  white  roses.  A  few 
moments  later  the  crier  announced  the  train,  and 
they  rose  and  moved  forward. 

Reba  was  settled  in  her  seat,  had  finally  bidden 
both  her  friends  good-by,  and  the  train  had  begun 
to  move  slowly  out  of  the  station,  when  a  newsboy 
hurried  down  the  aisle  shouting :  — 

"  Morning  papers !  All  about  the  horrible 
Southern  outrage  !  Southern  race  war  !  "  etc. 

Reba  stopped  him  and  bought  a  paper,  asking 
19 


290  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

for  the  "  Philadelphia!!,"  with  which  Mr.  Shepherd 
was  connected.  But  the  boy  was  running  risks, 
and  in  his  haste  to  supply  her,  and  afterwards  run 
and  jump  off,  he  gave  her  the  "  Partisan  "  instead. 
One  glance  informed  her  that  the  third  column  of 
the  first  page  was  devoted  to  the  "  outrage,"  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  column  being  taken  up  with  "  scare- 
heads,"  as  follows :  — 

BUTCHERED    IN   A   RACE   WAR. 


WHITE  RESIDENTS  OF  A  GEORGIA  TOWN 
EXTERMINATING  COLORED  PEOPLE. 

TEN  COLORED  MEN  KILLED. 

COLORED  PRISONERS  OF  THE  COUNTY  JAIL 
THREATENED  BY  THE  MOB. 

POOR  WOMEN   BRUTALLY  BEATEN. 
TERRIBLE  BATTLE  IN  A  SWAMP. 

After  the  foregoing,  it  was  somewhat  surprising 
that  the  last  sub-head,  in  the  smallest  display  type, 
should  have  read  as  follows :  — 

THE  RIOT  BEGUN  BY  A  COLORED  OUTLAW 
SHOOTING  DEAD  A  WHITE  MAR 
SHAL  WHO  WAS  ATTEMPT 
ING  HIS  ARREST. 


THE   SONS  OF  HAM.  291 

The  "  special  dispatch  to  the  '  Partisan ' "  from 
Savannah  ran  thus : 

"  The  town  of  Barcelona,  about  a  hundred  miles  from 
this  city,  is  in  the  throes  of  a  race  riot.  As  yet  only 
meagre  news  of  the  outbreak  has  been  obtainable.  The 
trouble  is  supposed  to  have  started  about  four  o'clock  this 
afternoon. 

"  The  Killed. 

"So  far  as  heard  from,  the  killed  are  :  GEORGE  McLEOD, 
assistant-marshal ;  CHARLES  WALTON,  farmer ;  SAMUEL 
THOMAS,  lawyer ;  and  from  eight  to  ten  colored  men. 

"The   Wounded. 

"  Those  wounded  among  the  whites  are  :  ROBERT 
MORTON,  lawyer,  dangerous  wound  in  abdomen  ;  JAMES 
JONES,  farmer,  serious  wound  in  shoulder;  ARTHUR 
BARNWELL;  marshal,  shot  through  both  legs. 

"  It  is  stated  that  the  trouble  was  precipitated  by  an 
attempt  to  arrest  a  colored  outlaw,  Josh  Bostwick  by 
name.  At  six  o'clock  Bostwick  and  his  followers  were 
located  in  a  small  but  dense  swamp  near  the  town,  and 
a  hundred  white  men  have  surrounded  the  place,  and 
are  now  on  picket  duty,  holding  the  blacks  at  bay. 
During  the  first  outbreak,  the  pursuit  of  the  colored 
men,  and  their  retreat  to  the  swamp,  many  shots  were 
exchanged,  with  the  result  in  killed  and  wounded  as 
stated  above.  The  colored  men  are  expecting  rein 
forcements  from  Barcelona  and  the  surrounding  country, 
and  more  serious  fighting  is  looked  for. 

"  In  response  to  a  telegram  from  the  Governor,  the 
Georgia  Hussars,  a  cavalry  troop  of  this  city,  will  go 


292  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

immediately  to  the  scene.  The  infantry  companies  of 
this  city,  which  could  muster  three  or  four  hundred  men, 
are  also  holding  themselves  in  readiness  to  move  at  a 
moment's  notice.  An  infantry  company  from  Brunswick 
is  also  expected  to  move  at  once.  Advices  from  that 
point  state  that  colored  men  of  that  town  have  also 
become  excited,  and  demand  that  they  be  furnished  a 
special  train  to  carry  them  to  the  assistance  of  their 
friends*.  They  threaten  to  burn  the  docks  if  the  train 
is  not  furnished. 

"  Later  despatches  from  Barcelona  confirm  the  above 
reports  and  add  some  particulars.  Josh  Bostwick,  a 
noted  desperado  and  fugitive  from  justice,  Mamie-Lou 
John,  and  Riley  Martin,  notorious  loafers  and  bad  char 
acters,  entered  Barcelona  at  noon  to-day  with  guns  on 
their  shoulders,  as  though  returning  from  a  hunting 
trip.  About  four  o'clock  they  attracted  attention  by 
their  shouts  and  curses  in  front  of  a  saloon  on  a  back 
street,  the  desperado  Bostwick  firing  off  his  gun,  to  the 
terror  and  imminent  danger  of  persons  in  that  vicinity. 
Marshal  Barn  well  and  Deputy  McLeod  attempted  to 
arrest  Bostwick,  who  resisted,  —  the  other  two  colored 
men  encouraging  him,  and  Rosetta  Hightower,  a  wo 
man  of  infamous  notoriety,  who  was  in  their  company, 
egging  them  on  to  the  struggle  which  ensued.  Robert 
Morton,  a  young  white  man,  was  passing,  and  being 
summoned,  ran  to  the  assistance  of  the  officers  of  the 
law ;  not,  however,  until  Bostwick  had  freed  himself 
from  the  grasp  on  his  collar,  raised  his  gun,  and  fired, 
killing  the  deputy.  Riley  and  John  promptly  followed 
his  lead,  and  both  Barnwell  and  young  Morton  were 
shot  down. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  293 

"  The  alley  was  soon  alive  with  people,  and  the  three 
outlaws  were  fired  upon  and  began  to  retreat,  calling 
upon  their  friends  to  join  them  in  their  battle  with  the 
whites.  Some  fifteen  or  twenty  colored  men  responded, 
and  the  combined  forces,  including  the  woman,  retreated 
hurriedly  out  of  town  toward  a  small  but  dense  swamp, 
exchanging  shots  as  they  went  with  the  growing  body  of 
their  pursuers.  During  this  skirmishing,  at  pretty  close 
quarters,  Charles  Walton  and  Samuel  Thomas,  white, 
and  six  colored  men  were  killed,  and  James  Jones, 
white,  was  wounded.  The  odds  now  against  them,  the 
colored  men  turned  and  fled  to  the  swamp,  near  which 
Riley  Martin,  one  of  the  outlaws,  was  brought  to  earth, 
badly  wounded.  The  Hightower  woman  was  overtaken 
and  whipped  with  switches.  When  released,  she  ran 
into  the  swamp  and  joined  her  friends. 

"  To-night  two  other  colored  women  of  notoriously 
bad  character  were  set  upon  by  unknown  persons  in  the 
suburbs  of  Barcelona  and  severely  whipped.  The  excite 
ment  is  at  fever  heat,  and  negro  criminals  in  the  county 
jail  are  trembling  for  their  lives. 

"The  latest  despatch  from  Barcelona  states  that  the 
swamp  is  surrounded  by  white  men  on  picket  duty,  and 
that  the  colored  men  who  have  made  threats  of  another 
uprising  in  the  town  are  overawed,  and  there  is  now  no 
fighting  going  on.  Those  besieging  the  swamp  are 
waiting  for  daylight.  At  nine  o'clock  a  colored  man 
was  shot  by  a  picket  while  attempting  to  leave  the 
swamp.  The  ball  took  effect  in  the  right  breast,  but 
the  wound  is  not  fatal.  It  is  believed  that  he  was  acting 
as  a  spy." 


294  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

Reba  read  and  re-read  this  meagre  account  of 
the  riot,  and  as  her  glance  returned  to  the  mislead 
ing  "  scare-heads  "  her  eyes  filled  with  angry  tears 
and  her  heart  throbbed  with  indignation. 

"  The  despatches  show  plainly  enough  that  the 
negroes  precipitated  the  riot,"  was  her  thought. 
"  They  were  altogether  in  the  wrong,  and  yet  these 
people  sympathize  with  them  at  once,  and  never 
think  of  us  at  all.  I  wonder  how  such  good  people 
can  be  so  cruel  and  blind.  Mr.  Shepherd's  own 
paper,  too,  and  he  talked  this  morning  as  if  he 
knew  better:  ' Butchered  in  a  race  war.  White 
residents  of  a  Georgia  town  exterminating  colored 
people  ( ! )  Poor  women  brutally  beaten  ( !  ! )  '  How 
can  he  have  written  such  dishonest  headings,  man 
ifestly  intended  to  prejudice  the  reader  in  advance  ?  " 

At  this  point,  she  observed  with  great  relief  that 
it  was  not  Mr.  Shepherd's  paper  she  was  reading, 
but  a  sheet  called  the  "  Partisan."  Putting  it  away 
from  her  promptly,  she  sat  in  troubled  revery 
until  the  train  stopped  at  the  next  station,  where 
she  beckoned  a  passing  newsboy  and  secured  at 
last  a  copy  of  the  "  Philadelphian."  Mr.  Shep 
herd's  paper  contained  the  same  dispatches,  but 
they  were  not  adorned  by  the  "  Partisan's  "  flowery 
headlines,  the  unvarnished  facts  of  the  occurrence 
and  nothing  more  being  outlined. 

On  the  inside  of  the  journal,  which  in  more  ways 
than  one  seemed  to  show  a  regard  for  simple  truth 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  295 

and  justice  far  too  uncommon,  the  following  edito 
rial  appeared :  — 

"Judging  from  the  despatches  describing  the  riot  at 
Barcelona,  Georgia,  this  latest  'race  war'  is  of  a  charac 
ter  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  thoughtful,  showing  as  it 
plainly  does  that  other  factors  beside  hatred  of  the  freed 
slave  enter  into  these  troubles.  It  becomes  more  and 
more  evident  that  the  Southern  whites  have  a  grave  prob 
lem  on  their  hands,  and  that  they  are  deserving  of  at  least 
a  measure  of  the  sympathy  which  hitherto  we  have  lav 
ished  entirely  upon  the  blacks. 

"  It  seems  quite  clear  that  the  whole  trouble  was  pre 
cipitated  by  the  infamous  acts  of  a  negro  outlaw.  Blood 
once  shed  and  innocent  blood  quickly  following,  as  it 
always  does,  public  excitement  naturally  led  to  indiscre 
tions  and  half  a  score  or  more  of  lives  have  paid  the 
penalty.  It  ought  to  be  quite  impossible  for  anybody  to 
make  political  capital  out  of  this  tragic  incident.  Every 
good  citizen,  white  or  black,  North  or  South,  cannot  but 
earnestly  desire  the  suppression  of  outlawry  wherever  it  is 
found.  The  trouble  is  that  such  men  as  Josh  Bostwick 
are  too  often  tolerated  in  a  community,  instead  of  being 
put  away  for  their  crimes  at  an  early  period  in  their  worse 
than  useless  careers.  They  are  allowed  to  be  at  large  and 
to  work  mischief  among  the  other  degraded  characters ; 
and  such  is  the  brutality  of  some  human  natures  that  des 
peradoes  of  this  kind  can  always  summon  followers  ready 
to  go  with  them  any  lengths  in  resisting  the  mandate  of 
the  law.  One  lesson  of  this  riot  is  that  the  law  should 
always  be  enforced,  that  men  whose  place  is  behind  the 
bars  should  be  kept  there.  Another  lesson,  perhaps,  if 


296  THE   SONS  OF  HAM. 

we  of  the  North  are  ready  to  heed  it,  is  that  our  early 
conception  of  the  Southern  situation,  as  one  continuing 
spectacle  of  a  white  foot  on  a  black  neck  is,  to  say  the  least, 
out  of  date  and  wanting  in  revision." 

"  That  sounds  more  like  Mr.  Shepherd,"  was 
Reba's  thought  on  reading  this ;  and  she  felt  very 
grateful  to  the  fair-minded  man  who  had  so 
thoroughly  won  her  esteem,  if  not  her  heart. 

The  long  day  dragged  as  if  toward  an  eternity. 
The  speeding  train  seemed  to  creep,  as  the  girl  lay 
back  upon  her  cushion  outwardly  calm,  but  restless 
and  ill  with  waiting,  hoping,  fearing,  and  now 
and  again  shedding  scalding  tears  behind  her 
veil. 


XX. 


ABOUT  the  hour  of  that  Saturday  night  when 
Reba's  trunks  were  being  packed  in  Philadelphia, 
a  little  past  midnight,  several  white  men  stood  and 
lounged  about  a  fire  in  the  open  pine  woods  be 
tween  that  part  of  Barcelona  called  the  Neck  and 
the  swamp  which  was  surrounded  by  pickets,  and 
in  which  the  remnant  of  the  rioting  negroes  lay 
concealed.  The  moon  rode  high  in  the  heavens, 
and  sufficient  light  filtered  down  between  the  tops 
of  the  straggling  pines  to  enable  the  pickets  to 
distinguish  any  moving  figure  within  the  distance 
of  a  hundred  yards,  and  effectually  prevent  escape 
from  the  swamp. 

The  place  in  which  the  fugitives  rested  at  bay, 
however,  could  hardly  be  called  a  swamp  at  all,  as 
it  covered  only  three  or  four  acres.  It  was  in  reality 
a  cypress  pond,  for  the  most  part  "  gone  dry,"  as 
it  is  said  locally,  and  was  grown  up  not  only  with 
old  cypresses  and  young  pines,  but  with  dense  un 
derbrush  and  young  poplar-trees  now  well  covered 
with  the  fresh  green  leaves  of  spring.  The  fire  was 


298  THE  SONS  'OF  HAM. 

more  than  a  hundred  yards  without  the  circle  of 
the  pickets,  and  the  half-dozen  men  who  stood  or 
sat  around  it  were  unconcerned  in  manner,  being 
well  beyond  the  range  of  bullets  from  the  swamp. 
Their  faces  were  serious  and  stern,  however,  and 
the  tenor  of  their  conversation  showed  that  the 
outlaws  at  bay  need  expect  no  mercy. 

There  were  some  inaccuracies  in  the  associated 
press  despatches  concerning  the  riot,  but  in  the 
main  the  account  was  correct.  As  stated,  the 
trouble  had  grown  out  of  the  attempted  arrest  of 
the  black  desperado  Bostwick  and  the  killing  of 
the  white  deputy.  The  marshal  himself  and 
Robert  Morton,  called  to  the  aid  of  the  former, 
were  shot  down  by  Mamie-Lou  John  and  Riley 
Martin,  whose  former  exploits  will  be  remembered. 
The  three  outlaws  were  then  fired  upon  by  white 
men  gathering  to  the  scene.  The  color  line  being 
drawn,  the  law-breakers  were  immediately  rein 
forced  by  all  the  more  desperate  characters  of 
their  race  within  hearing  of  the  conflict.  It  being 
Saturday,  an  almost  universal  holiday  among  the 
negroes,  many  idlers  were  on  hand  to  take  part. 
The  woman,  Rosetta  Hightower,  now  notorious  as 
an  abandoned  creature,  was  present  and  incited 
the  blacks  to  resistance  by  shrieks  and  curses, 
afterwards  accompanying  her  friends  in  their  re 
treat  and  flight.  Although  overtaken  on  the 
borders  of  the  pond  and  whipped  by  an  enraged 
white  man  called  Simpson,  her  spirit  was  not 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  299 

broken,  and  when  released,  instead  of  returning  to 
the  town,  she  ran  boldly  into  the  pond  where  her 
friends  were  concealed,  tempting  for  the  moment 
some  of  the  more  rash  of  the  pursuers  to  fire  upon 
her.  Her  sex,  however,  protected  her  from  such 
a  fate. 

The  pond  being  promptly  surrounded  by  white 
men  crowding  to  the  scene,  and  certain  spirits  of 
the  Neck  who  loudly  threatened  a  fresh  uprising 
being  presently  overawed,  the  mayor  in  the  course 
of  the  evening  telegraphed  the  troops  in  Savannah 
and  Brunswick  not  to  move  until  further  notice. 
There  had  been  no  further  developments  in  the 
situation  up  to  twelve  o'clock,  at  which  time  such 
of  the  besiegers  as  were  not  on  picket  duty  were 
lounging  about  the  fire  as  described. 

"  Colonel  Sanford  advises  moderation,"  said  a 
young  man,  evidently  belonging  to  the  educated 
class,  who  stood  leaning  on  a  'Winchester  rifle. 
(His  name  was  Gordon  and  he  was  a  cousin  of 
Jack  Sanford.)  "  He  told  me  he  would  come 
down  here  and  talk  to  you  boys  himself  if  he  were 
well  enough  to  get  out  of  bed.  He  says  when  we 
close  in  on  them  in  the  morning,  we  ought  not  to 
fire  a  gun  unless  they  fire  on  us  first.  He  thinks 
they  may  be  disposed  to  surrender,  and  that  we 
ought  to  take  them  alive  if  possible,  and  let  them 
be  tried  and  convicted  according  to  law." 

"  Shucks  !  "  exclaimed  a  man  named  McLeod,  a 
brother  of  the  dead  deputy-marshal,  "  that  sort  o' 


300  THE   SONS   OF  HAM. 

talk  will  do  for  babies.  What !  —  give  them  nig 
gers  a  chance  for  life  after  all  the  good  white  men 
they've  shot  down  like  dogs?  "  His  lip  trembled 
for  a  moment  or  two,  but  steadying  himself,  he 
added,  with  a  solemn  oath :  "  The  first  black  face 
I  see  in  them  bushes  I  'm  goin'  to  shoot  at,  — 
that's  settled!" 

"  Adam  Brown  said  about  the  same  thing  when 
he  was  down  here  with  that  crowd  at  nine  o'clock," 
spoke  up  a  man  reclining  on  a  bunch  of  wire-grass. 
(This  was  the  bricklayer,  Simpson,  of  New  Jersey, 
husband  of  the  unfortunate  "  pond-gannet  "  whose 
persecution  at  the  hands  of  Josephine  may  be 
remembered.)  "  He  said  the  niggers  in  town  had 
quieted  down  and  he  did  n't  expect  any  more 
trouble  to-night,  and  maybe  none  to-morrow,  and 
he  wanted  us  to  take  them  black  devils  in  the 
swamp  alive  if  we  could.  But  how  could  we,  if  we 
wanted  to?" 

"  We  can't  do  it,"  declared  McLeod. 

"  They  '11  shoot  as  soon  as  ever  they  see  us  comin'," 
continued  Simpson,  "  and  more  'n  likely  a  passel 
of  us  '11  be  picked  off  before  we  git  a  shot  our 
selves.  Who  's  goin'  to  try  to  take  'em  alive,  then? 
Humph!" 

"  What  do  you  say,  sheriff?  "  asked  another  re 
clining  figure. 

"We've  got  to  take  'em,  dead  or  alive,  that's 
certain,"  briefly  replied  the  sheriff,  a  heavily  built 
man  who  sat  before  the  fire  with  a  rifle  across  his 
knees. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  301 

"Who's  that?"  some  one  exclaimed,  as  two 
men  were  seen  approaching  the  fire  from  the 
direction  of  the  Neck.  The  sheriff  sprang  to  his 
feet  and  called  out,  "  Halt !  " 

"  Don't  shoot !  "  cried  one  of  the  two  approaching 
men,  both  having  halted.  "  We  come  on  a  peace 
able  errand." 

The  voice  was  unmistakably  that  of  a  negro,  and 
recognizing  it  as  such,  the  white  men  about  the 
fire  exchanged  glances,  suspicion  entering  the 
minds  of  all. 

"  Come  ahead,  then,"  said  the  sheriff  after  a 
moment. 

The  new-comers  proved  to  be  Professor  Brice 
and  a  very  old  negro,  known  in  the  Neck  as  "  Uncle 
Billy."  The  latter  appeared  to  be  too  terrified  to 
speak,  and  the  former  also  looked  about  him  with 
some  show  of  apprehension  as  they  entered  the 
circle  of  firelight. 

"  I  tried  to  git  preacher  Smith  to  come  with  us," 
said  the  professor,  smiling  nervously,  "  but  he  was 
afraid  you  'd  shoot  him.  I  told  him  you  would  n't 
shoot  him,  gentlemen." 

9"  What  do  you  want?"  demanded  the  sheriff. 

"I —  I  —  wanted  to  see  if  we  couldn't  make 
some  arrangement  —  " 

"  '  Arrangement ! '  —  '  arrangement ' !  "  broke  in 
Simpson,  angrily.  "  We  don't  want  no  sassy  edu 
cated  niggers  around  here  —  and  no  '  arrange 
ment.'  "  (Simpson  could  not  afford  to  send  his 
•children  to  school.) 


302  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

"  Let  him  alone,"  said  the  sheriff,  in  rebuke. 

"  This  old  man  has  a  son  in  that  pond,"  con 
tinued  the  professor,  without  replying  in  any  way 
to  Simpson,  "  and  I  thought  maybe  if  you  'd  let 
him  go  in  there,  and  let  me  go  with  him,  we  might 
talk  to  them  boys  and  get  'em  to  give  up — sur 
render.  They  know  they  ain't  got  no  chance  no 
how,"  added  the  schoolmaster,  forgetful  of  his 
learning  in  his  excitement,  "  and  looks  to  me  like 
we  could  persuade  'em.  It  would  save  a  heap  o' 
bloodshed,  gentlemen." 

"  Don't  do  it !  "  cried  Simpson  and  others,  as  the 
sheriff  hesitated.  "  No  tellin'  what  them  two  nig 
gers  are  really  up  to." 

"We've  got  better  sense,  I  hope,  than  to  let 
reinforcements  walk  into  that  pond  right  before 
our  eyes,"  said  McLeod,  angrily. 

"  We  ain't  tryin'  to  fool  you,  gentlemen,"  replied 
the  professor,  mildly.  "  We  got  better  sense.  We 
mean  honest." 

"Be  for  yo'  good,  too,"  ventured  old  Uncle 
Billy,  in  an  unsteady  voice.  "  Dem  boys  is  des- 
p'ate,  an'  when  you  rush  in  on  'em  a-shootin',  dey '11 
sho'  kill  some  o'  you." 

"  Let  'em  try  it !  " 

"  You  can't  do  it  to-night,  anyhow,"  said  the 
sheriff,  still  undecided. 

"I  think  if  Colonel  Sanford  were  here  he 
would  advise  us  to  let  them  try  it,"  said  young 
Gordon. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  303 

"  If  you  come  here  by  sun-up  in  the  mornin', 
we  '11  see  about  it,"  said  the  sheriff,  finally. 

"  All  right,  sir,"  said  Brice,  looking  disappointed, 
"  I  hope  you  won't  charge  in  on  'em  before  we 
git  h-yuh." 

"  That 's  our  business,"  growled  McLeod,  and 
the  professor  and  old  Uncle  Billy  turned  sadly 
away,  moving  off  toward  the.  Neck. 

The  schoolmaster's  proposal  was  discussed  pro 
and  con  for  half  an  hour,  and  then  silence  gradu 
ally  fell  on  the  group  about  the  fire.  The  soft 
sigh  of  the  wind  in  the  pine-tree  tops  was  for  some 
time  all  that  was  heard. 

"  Hello!  what's  that?"  said  one  of  the  men  at 
last,  and  guns  were  gripped  on  every  side. 

The  figure  of  a  woman  suddenly  appeared  from 
among  the  dark  shadows  of  the  pines  and  stood 
near  them.  As  the  light  fell  upon  her  they  saw 
that  she  was  white-haired  and  old. 

"  Why,  it 's  old  Mammy  Nanny,"  declared  the 
same  speaker.  "  She  lives  right  over  yonder." 

"What  do  you  want  here  this  time  o'  night?" 
asked  the  sheriff,  suspiciously,  when  the  old  sor 
ceress  had  walked  boldly  into  their  midst. 

"  Wud  I  want?  "  she  repeated  in  her  peculiar, 
husky  voice.  "  I  want  to  keep  some  you  white 
mens  from  gwine  to  hell  bright  an'  early  to-mor 
row  mornin'.  Some  o'  you  sho'  gwine." 

The  crowd  saw  the  grim  joke  and  took  it  good- 
humoredly,  several  laughing  outright.  "  She  means 


304  THE   SONS.  OF  HAM. 

there  's  to  be  more  fighting  and  some  of  us  will 
'  sho'  kick  the  bucket,"  some  one  explained. 

"  Ef  you  know  wud  good  for  you,  you  '11  lem-me 
go  down  in  dat  pon'  an'  talk  to  dem  chillun  an' 
make  'em  give  up,"  continued  Mammy  Nanny. 

The  old  discussion  was  now  re-commenced. 
Some  thought  she  had  been  sent  by  Brice,  and 
that  the  "  whole  thing  was  a  plot  "  to  help  the  be 
sieged  out  of  their  trap.  Others  doubted  this,  and 
asked  her  why  she  thought  she  could  persuade  the 
outlaws  to  surrender. 

"  Dey  do  wud  I  tell  'em,"  she  replied  confidently. 
"  You  des  wait  an'  see ;  des  wait  an'  see." 

"  Don't  let  her  go,"  advised  McLeod,  the  brother 
of  the  murdered  deputy.  "  One  woman  too  many 
in  there  now.  We  don't  want  to  shoot  women." 

"  I  reckon  we  better  let  her  try  it,"  said  the 
sheriff.  "  She  can't  do  any  harm,  and  if  she  can 
make  'em  surrender,  all  the  better." 

And  so  it  was  finally  decided.  The  nearest  sen 
tinels  were  notified  and  instructed  not  to  fire,  and 
then  the  fearless  old  woman  walked  down  the  slope 
and  into  the  underbrush  of  the  pond.  As  she  dis 
appeared  from  view,  her  voice  rose  upon  the  night 
air,  becoming  peculiarly  shrill  when  pitched  on  a 
high  key :  — 

"  Mamie-Lou  !  Josh  !  Rosetta  !  Don't  shoot ! 
I  'm  a-comin'.  T  ain't  dem  white  mens.  It 's  me 
—  Mammy  Nanny  !  " 

Shortly  after  this  incident  two  white  men  ap-- 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  305 

preached  the  group  about  the  fire  from  the  direc 
tion  of  Barcelona.  "  Riley  Martin  died  about  a 
half-hour  ago  at  Thompson's  drug  store,"  one  of 
them  announced.  "  Dr.  Fisher  got  the  bullet  out 
of  his  lung,  but  he  did  n't  live  long  after  it." 

"And  what  do  you  reckon,  boys?"  said  the 
other  new-comer.  "  He  confessed  that  he  and 
Mamie-Lou  John  killed  Jack  Sanford.  It  was  n't 
that  young  Putnam  darkey  after  all,  and  now  I 
reckon  they'll  turn  loose  his  old  daddy,  —  old 
Jerry  Carter." 

11  They  robbed  and  murdered  Jack  Sanford  —  the 
same  devils  that  killed  my  brother !  "  exclaimed 
McLeod,  starting  to  his  feet,  almost  mad  with  rage. 
He  declared  that  he  would  charge  the  besieged  at 
that  moment,  and  called  upon  all  hands  to  follow 
him  into  the  pond.  But  every  one  objected,  and 
the  excited  man  was  prevented  from  rushing  to  his 
certain  death,  at  first  by  force,  and  then  by  persua 
sion,  finally  agreeing  to  wait  for  daylight  and  the 
co-operation  of  his  friends. 

"  You  may  do  what  you  please  with  the  rest," 
he  declared,  "  but  if  we  take  Mamie-Lou  John  and 
Josh  Bostwick  alive,  they  Ve  got  to  swing." 

As  the  gray  light  of  dawn  began  to  steal  through 
the  tops  of  the  thin-leaved  cypresses  and  penetrate 
the  deepest  shades  of  the  little  swamp,  four  human 
figures  were  gradually  outlined,  seated  on  a  log 
beneath  a  tall,  branching  poplar.  Their  position 
was  near  the  centre  of  the  so-called  pond,  and,  a 

20 


3o6  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

short  distance  in  front  of  them,  a  bog  or  quagmire 
a  few  square  yards  in  extent  was  the  sole  relic  of 
the  vanished  waters  which  in  wet  weather  covered 
an  acre  or  two.  The  human  figures  were  those  of 
Mammy  Nanny,  Rosetta,  Mamie-Lou  John,  and  the 
desperado  Bostwick,  and  these  were  the  sole  occu 
pants  of  the  pond.  The  besiegers  were  under  the 
belief  that  six  or  eight  armed  negroes  besides  the 
notorious  Bostwick  and  John  were  at  bay,  not 
knowing  that  all  but  the  two  latter  had  passed 
through  the  little  swamp  and  escaped  into  the  ex 
tensive  pine  forests  beyond,  the  afternoon  before, 
while  fighting  was  still  going  on  and  before  the 
place  was  surrounded.  When  Rosetta  was  over 
taken  and  whipped  on  the  outskirts  of  the  swamp 
Bostwick  and  John  halted  to  fire  on  her  assailant 
and  their  pursuers,  and  so  when  they  attempted  to 
follow  their  escaping  friends  they  found  the  place 
invested  by  white  men  on  every  side.  It  was  dur 
ing  the  whipping  of  Rosetta,  which  occasioned  the 
last  exchange  of  shots,  that  Sam  Thomas  fell. 

"  It  ain't  no  use,"  said  Bostwick,  sullenly,  rising 
from  the  log  and  peering  about  him  in  the  uncer 
tain  light.  "  I  done  tried  it  a  hundred  times  since 
yistiddy  ebenin'.  Dey  got  us  hemmed  in  too  close. 
No  chance  to  git  out  o'  dis  place." 

The  crack  of  a  rifle  resounded  through  the 
woods.  It  was  doubtless  the  signal  for  the  besie 
gers  to  advance  from  every  point,  and  the  other 
three  figures  started  up  from  the  log  in  terror. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  307 

"  You  boys  better  tek  care  yo'self !  "  exclaimed 
Mammy  Nanny,  in  a  shaken  voice.  "  Dem  white 
mens  be  yuh  in  five  minutes." 

"Can't  you  hide  some'rs?"  suggested  Rosetta, 
eagerly. 

Cold  sweat  stood  out  in  great  beads  on  the  fore 
heads  of  the  two  doomed  men.  Nevertheless, 
Bostwick  exclaimed,  with  a  fierce  oath,  "  I  bet  I  '11 
kill  two  of  'em  fo'  dey  git  me.  Dey  can't  shoot  me 
down  like  a  dog." 

"  Nor  me  neither,"  echoed  Mamie-Lou,  although 
with  chattering  teeth. 

A  shout  was  now  heard,  and  answering  shouts 
followed  from  different  sides  of  the  pond.  The 
circle  of  the  pickets  was  contracting.  Bostwick 
and  John  looked  at  each  other  significantly,  abject 
fear  stealing  into  their  hearts. 

(The  professor  and  old  Uncle  Billy  had  not 
turned  up  in  time,  and  the  former's  proposition 
had  been  forgotten  by  the  besiegers  in  the  excite 
ment  of  the  hour.  Mammy  Nanny's  failure  to  re 
appear,  however,  would  have  made  them  reluctant 
to  permit  further  attempts  at  mediation.) 

Suddenly  Bostwick  ran  over  to  a  neighboring 
bay-tree,  muttering  to  himself  as  he  went,  "  Look 
to  me  like  dere  's  a  hollow  up  dere  in  dat  big  dead 
pine." 

A  huge  old  pine  stood  very  close  to  the  bay  and 
towered  above  it ;  Bostwick's  idea  seemed  to  be  to 
climb  up  the  bay  and  attempt  to  jump  a  yard  or 


3o8  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

two  to  the  lowest  branch  of  the  pine,  and  thence 
make  his  way  into  the  hollow.  It  was  not  a  prom 
ising  plan,  —  ten  to  one,  if  he  succeeded  in  reaching 
the  hollow  at  all,  it  would  prove  too  small ;  but 
nothing  else  suggested  itself,  and  he  felt  that  he 
must  act.  He  had  climbed  up  the  few  feet  of  bare 
trunk  and  swung  himself  into  the  branches  of  the 
bay  by  the  time  the  others  understood  what  was 
his  intention.  His  helpless  comrade  moved  to 
follow,  but  Mammy  Nanny  stopped  him. 

"You,  Mamie-Lou!  Wait!  Come  yuh  —  I'll 
fix  you." 

He  was  the  grandson  of  her  sister,  and  it  was  to 
save  him  'that  the  old  sorceress  had  braved  the 
objections  of  the  besiegers  and  entered  the  pond. 
Repeatedly  calling  on  him  to  follow,  she  ran  out 
on  a  rotting  log  which  lay  across  the  mud  and 
water  of  the  quagmire. 

"Git  in  an*  lay  down,"  she  then  commanded. 
"  I  '11  fix  you  so  dey  won't  find  you." 

"  Lay  down  in  dat  cole  water  an'  mud?  "  objected 
Mamie-Lou,  with  a  shiver. 

"  Do  wud  I  tell  you,  you  fool  you !  " 

"  Moccasin  come  from  under  dis  log  an*  bite 
me,"  cried  the  terrified  and  reluctant  negro. 

"  Moccasin'  bite  ain't  bad  ez  white  man'  bullet. 
Look  yuh,  boy,  is  you  crazy?  Git  in,  I  tell  you  !  " 

The  man  seemed  paralyzed  with  fear,  and  made 
no  movement.  With  angry  speech,  she  laid  hold 
on  him,  and,  losing  his  balance,  he  stepped  off  the 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  309 

log  against  his  will.  Then  he  submitted  like  a 
child  as  she  forced  him  to  lie  down  in  the  mud 
and  water  and  rest  his  head  near  the  log. 

"  Moccasin  ain't  gwine  bite  you,"  she  declared, 
coaxingly. 

Once  she  had  placed  him  in  the  desired  position, 
she  deliberately  stepped  upon  him,  and,  by  stand 
ing  tip-toe  and  then  coming  down  upon  him  with  all 
her  weight,  she  forced  his  legs  and  arms,  and  finally 
his  body,  to  sink  gradually  beneath  the  soft,  yield 
ing  ooze.  This  done  to  her  satisfaction,  she  stepped 
back  on  the  log  and,  kneeling  down,  put  her  hands 
on  his  forehead  and  pressed  gently  until  the  back 
part  of  his  head  was  also  beneath  the  surface,  leav 
ing  only  mouth,  nose,  eyes,  and  ears  exposed. 
Then  she  quickly  smeared  his  face,  forehead,  and 
hair  with  black  mud,  after  which,  from  the  spot 
where  Rosetta  stood  watching,  speechless,  nothing 
whatever  could  be  seen  but  the  slime  and  mire  of 
the  bog,  although  this  was  a  little  disturbed.  To 
cover  this  disturbance  of  the  surface,  the  crafty  old 
woman,  assisted  by  Rosetta,  gathered  fallen  leaves 
and  scattered  them  over  the  place  where  Mamie- 
Lou  lay,  especially  over  his  head,  about  which  she 
first  placed,  with  apparent  carelessness,  some  bits 
of  rotten  wood.  She  did  not  forget  to  scatter  a 
few  leaves  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  bog,  in 
order  to  give  the  impression  that  a  gust  of  wind 
had  been  the  moving  cause  of  the  whole. 

"  Now  you  des  lay  still,  an'  dey  ain't  never  gwine 


3io  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

see  you  in  de  woriy '  she  said  triumphantly ;  and 
well  she  might,  for  the  concealment  of  the  negro 
was  complete. 

And  after  rubbing  her  muddy  hands  on  the 
rough  bark  of  a  tree  and  wiping  them  on  her 
apron,  the  old  woman  felt  secure  in  the  thought 
that  all  traces  of  her  clever  stratagem  were  re 
moved.  The  two  men  had  abandoned  their 
guns,  and  it  now  occurred  to  Mammy  Nanny  that 
the  sight  of  these  might  excite  suspicion ;  she 
therefore  hurriedly  concealed  them  in  the  neigh 
boring  brush,  after  which  the  two  women  re-seated 
themselves  on  the  log  under  the  tree,  not  daring  to 
leave  the  scene  for  the  present,  well  knowing  that 
the  sight  of  a  black  face  moving  in  the  bush  would 
likely  draw  the  fire  of  the  besiegers. 

They  had  not  long  to  wait.  More  than  ten  min 
utes  had  elapsed  since  the  signal  was  heard,  the 
whites  having  advanced  slowly  and  cautiously ;  but 
the  circle  was  now  contracting  about  the  centre  of 
the  pond.  As  soon  as  they  seated  themselves,  the 
women  heard  sounds  of  approaching  feet,  —  the 
breaking  of  a  twig  here,  the  cracking  of  a  dry  leaf 
there,  and  they  wondered  that  they  should  be  held 
so  long  in  suspense,  forgetting  that  the  whites 
expected  every  movement  to  draw  upon  them 
selves  the  fire  of  a  dozen  rifles. 

"  Surrender !  "  cried  a  loud  voice  suddenly,  and 
a  moment  later  the  sheriff,  McLeod,  Simpson, 
and  young  Gordon  burst  into  the  open  space  in 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  311 

front  of  the  two  women.  As  if  in  obedience  to  the 
spoken  demand,  Mammy  Nanny  rose  to  her  feet, 
but  said  nothing.  Rosetta  remained  motionless. 

"  Where  is  they?"  cried  McLeod,  staring  va 
cantly  about  him. 

"What!  — just  you  two  women?"  cried  the 
sheriff. 

"What's  gone  with  them?"  ejaculated  young 
Gordon. 

"  What  a  set  of  fools  we  was  to  let  'em  slip 
through  our  fingers,"  said  the  disgusted  Simpson. 

"  Thought  you  was  goin'  to  make  'em  sur 
render?"  said  the  sheriff,  angrily  addressing 
Mammy  Nanny.  "  'Stead  o'  that  you  come  in 
h-yer  and  help  'em  to  git  off,  you  —  "  he  hesitated 
for  want  of  an  epithet  sufficiently  expressive  of  his 
wrath. 

"  Now  you  gwine  jump  on  me  'caze  you  white 
mens  went  to  sleep,"  argued  Mammy  Nanny, 
spiritedly. 

"Who  went  to  sleep?  We  didn't  do  no  such 
a  thing." 

"  Somebody  sho'  went  to  sleep,"  she  asserted, 
positively,  "  for  eve'y  las'  one  o'  dem  niggers 
crawled  out  o'  yuh  dis  mornin'  fo'  day,  —  crawled 
out  o'  yuh  on  dey  belly  thoo  dat  grass." 

"Well,  I'll  be  —  !"  cried  McLeod  and  the 
sheriff  in  chorus. 

Improving  on  the  advantage  gained,  Mammy 
Nanny  re-told  the  story  with  great  variety  of  detail, 


312  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

and  was,  of  course,  corroborated  by  Rosetta  as  to 
every  particular.  The  old  woman  had  at  first  de 
termined  to  tell  the  real  truth  regarding  the  escape 
of  the  other  negroes  while  fighting  was  still  going 
on  and  before  the  swamp  was  surrounded,  intend 
ing  to  account  for  the  disappearance  of  Bostwick 
and  her  grand-nephew  by  describing  their  pre 
tended  snake-like  crawl  through  the  grass  past 
a  sleeping  sentinel.  But,  as  these  sentinels  were 
present,  the  whole  company  of  besiegers  having 
now  centred  on  the  scene,  and  each  would,  of 
course,  deny  having  slept,  she  decided  to  say  that 
all  the  rioting  negroes  had  thus  escaped,  shrewdly 
calculating  that  her  story  would  compel  belief,  it 
being  manifestly  impossible  for  a  dozen  men  to 
conceal  themselves  within  the  limits  of  the  pond. 
Mammy  Nanny  had  mastered  the  arts  of  deception 
in  the  practice  of  her  profession. 

"  Seem  like  to  me  Bost'ick  ought  to  be  'rested 
atter  what  he  done,"  she  calmly  informed  them. 
"  But  what  could  /do?  I  couldn't  holler  to  you 
mens.  Dem  niggers  would  'a  cut  my  t'roat  dat 
quick  !  "  —  snapping  her  fingers. 

"  Well,"  said  the  furious  sheriff,  "you  two  women 
can  jes'  leave  here.  That 's  the  best  thing  you  can 
do.  And  you  better  behave  yourselves,  too." 

Mammy  Nanny  cast  a  lingering  look  toward  the 
bog,  but  neither  she  nor  Rosetta  was  slow  to 
obey. 

"  By  George !  "    ejaculated    McLeod,   softly,   a 


THE   SONS   OF  HAM.  313 

minute  or  two  later,  as  the  baffled  besiegers  stood 
discussing  the  situation, —  "  boys,  there  's  big  game 
up  in  that  bay-tree.  If  it  ain't  a  wild  cat,  it  must 
be  a  mighty  big  wild  turkey."  He  stole  forward  a 
few  steps,  and,  suddenly  bringing  his  rifle  to  his 
shoulder,  fired. 

"  I  hit  it,"  he  then  cried.     "I  seen  it  move." 

He  fired  again,  and  then  at  once  there  appeared 
to  be  unusual  agitation  near  the  top  of  the  bay- 
tree.  The  leaves  and  branches  trembled,  a  heavy 
body  descended,  rebounding  from  bough  to  bough, 
and  -presently  the  lifeless  form  of  Josh  Bostwick, 
the  hunted  desperado,  fell  almost  at  the  feet  of  the 
astonished  McLeod,  who  started  away  from  it  with 
a  cry  of  horror. 

The  besiegers  understood  the  situation  at  once 
and  forthwith  the  cry  arose :  "  Spread  out,  boys ! 
Spread  out !  There  's  more  niggers  up  these  trees. 
Don't  let  'em  slip  down  and  run  !  " 

As  the  men  leaped  to  obey,  the  sight  of  a  black 
face  moving  in  the  bush  drew  the  fire  of  one  of  the 
former  sentinels.  A  moment  later  Mammy  Nanny 
ran  into  the  open,  followed  by  Rosetta,  who  directly 
fell  on  her  face  and  lay  motionless.  The  former 
looked  anxiously  toward  the  undisturbed  bog,  then 
halted,  with  an  air  of  relief,  surveying  her  surround 
ings.  The  sight  of  Bostwick's  body  gave  her  the 
key  to  the  situation,  and,  without  a  word  of  in 
quiry,  she  turned  to  the  fallen  Rosetta,  stooping 
over  her  and  investigating  her  wound.  The  young 


314  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

woman  was  not  dead,  but  seemed  unable  to  speak. 
The  bullet  had  entered  her  breast.  The  sheriff 
was  deeply  annoyed  by  these  unexpected  develop 
ments,  when  he  returned  to  the  open  a  few 
moments  later. 

"  What  made  you  two  women  come  back  here?  " 
he  demanded  of  Mammy  Nanny,  with  anger. 
"  Now  she  's  shot  and  she  's  to  blame  for  it." 

"  We  did  n't  know  you  .white  mens  was  out 
shootin'  women  folks/'  retorted  the  old  woman, 
bitterly. 

4  We  ain't,  and  you  know  we  ain't.  We  told 
you  to  leave,  and  why  did  n't  you  ?  I  don't  know 
who  shot  her,  but  whoever  did  thought  she  was  a 
man.  He  saw  her  face  in  the  bushes  and  thought 
she  was  a  man  —  runnin'  away.  Did  you  know 
Bostwick  was  up  that  tree?  " 

"  Who,  me?  I  thought  he  crawled  out  o'  yuh 
'long  wid  the  rest,"  she  answered  without  the  twitch 
of  a  muscle.  "  Seem  like  to  me  he  'd  'a'  had  better 
sense  'n  to  climb  a  tree." 

The  besiegers  were  now  returning  to  the  open 
at  the  centre  of  the  pond,  sorely  perplexed.  The 
sun  had  risen  and  the  light  was  too  strong  to  per 
mit  of  mistake;  it  was  perfectly  clear  that  there 
were  no  more  fugitives  in  the  tops  of  trees  or 
hidden  elsewhere  in  the  little  swamp.  They  were 
forced  to  conclude  that  the  old  woman's  story 
must  be  true  after  all;  as  regarded  Bostwick, 
doubtless  he  was  the  last  to  crawl  out  and  the  sen- 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  315 

tinel  had  awakened  in  time  to  prevent  him,  and 
thus  he  was  compelled  to  conceal  himself  as  best 
he  could. 

"  Look  at  that  moccasin !"  suddenly  cried  young 
Gordon,  who  was  strolling  along  the  edge  of  the 
bog.  "  Watch  me  cut  off  its  head." 

Mammy  Nanny  started  to  her  feet  as  she  heard 
his  exclamation  and  saw  his  rifle  pointed  toward 
the  bog.  She  rushed  forward,  open-mouthed,  in 
time  to  see  a  small  moccasin  curving  across  the 
mud  within  a  yard  of  the  spot  where  Mamie-Lou 
lay,  but  not  in  time  to  interfere.  There  was  a  flash, 
a  report,  and  a  moment  later  all  recollection  of  the 
snake  was  lost  at  the  sound  of  a  smothered,  inar 
ticulate  cry,  and  at  sight  of  a  violent  irruption  of 
the  surface  of  the  bog.  A  black,  mud-coated  crea 
ture  took  grotesque  and  sudden  shape  before  the 
besiegers'  astonished  eyes.  Leaping  upward,  with 
outstretched  arms  and  hands  which  frantically 
clutched  the  air,  it  bounded  to  the  shore  and  fell 
face  forward  on  the  ground,  —  a  black  human 
figure,  lifeless  and  still.  Young  Gordon  was  the 
first  to  recover  himself,  run  forward,  and  identify 
the  murderer  of  his  cousin  Jack  Sanford.  As  he 
bent  over  the  prostrate  figure,  Mammy  Nanny,  who 
hovered  near  in  speechless  grief,  suddenly  leaped 
upon  him  like  a  cat,  clawing  his  face  with  her  long 
nails. 

With  some  difficulty  she  was  dragged  from  her 
victim,  no  violence  being  done  to  her  the  while. 


3i6  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

After  inciting  the  negroes  to  riot,  the  vicious  and 
abandoned  Rosetta's  sex  had  not  saved  her  from 
Simpson's  whip,  but  Mammy  Nanny's  sex  and 
gray  hair  protected  her  now.  Cursing  and  reviling 
in  the  most  frightful  manner,  she  was  led  forcibly 
away  from  the  spot. 

The  sheriff  soon  saw  that  there  was  nothing 
more  to  be  done  for  the  present  except  to  have 
Rosetta  removed  and  her  wound  attended  to.  The 
discovery  of  a  second  fugitive,  this  time  concealed 
in  so  unlikely  a  place  as  a  quagmire,  had  promptly 
led  to  a  second  and  more  careful  search  of  the 
whole  neighborhood.  Every  bit  of  soft  earth  was 
thrust  through,  every  bush  or  tree  was  scrutinized, 
every  rotten  log  was  examined,  but  without  further 
result.  The  posse  concluded  to  disband.  Young 
Gordon  had  already  gone,  wiping  the  flowing  blood 
from  his  fair  face. 

"  Boys,"  said  the  sheriff,  finally,  "  let 's  go  home. 
It 's  Sunday  morning." 


XXL 

CHURCH-BELLS  were  rung  in  the  Neck  as  usual 
a  few  hours  later,  and  in  the  afternoon  the  popula 
tion  strolled  about  the  streets  in  holiday  attire  or 
sat  and  gossiped  on  the  piazzas  of  the  little  houses, 
although  there  was  grief  in  upwards  of  a  dozen 
homes  and  anxiety  on  many  a  face.  Here  and 
there  the  inevitable  and  apparently  never-to-be- 
ended  conflict  with  the  dominant  race  was  dis 
cussed  with  passionate  expressions  from  the  women, 
curses  and  threats  from  the  youth,  and  sighs  from 
the  old  men ;  but  for  the  most  part  the  subject  of 
conversation  was  those  who  were  dead,  those  who 
would  yet  die  or  recover,  interments  already  made 
and  such  as  were  yet  deferred,  with  much  specula 
tion  as  to  the  present  whereabouts  and  ultimate 
fate  of  those  rioters  who  had  escaped  through  the 
pine  woods  beyond  the  pond  and  were  still  at 
large. 

All  the  houses  of  mourning  were  crowded  with 
sympathizing  friends,  even  that  of  Zeno  Hightower 
where  Rosetta  lay  near  death's  door.  As  Maum 


3i8  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

Katie  entered  the  yard  at  four  o'clock  in  the  after 
noon,  the  piazza  was  full  of  gossiping  women  who 
informed  her  that  the  girl  was  not  expected  to  live. 
Maum  Katie  was  engaged  in  nursing  Morton,  but 
had  asked  an  hour's  leave  of  absence  to  visit 
Rosetta,  Zeno  Hightower  being  one  of  her  friends. 
Being  admitted  to  the  room  where  the  wounded 
young  woman  lay  dying,  as  it  was  believed,  she 
found  another  visitor  in  the  person  of  Parson  Smith, 
who  had  come  to  talk  with  Rosetta  and  comfort  her 
weeping  mother. 

"  You  ain't  got  long  to  stay,  and  you  must  make 
your  peace,"  he  was  saying  to  the  prostrate  figure 
on  the  couch,  as  Maum  Katie  entered.  He  had 
already  prayed  and  exhorted  at  some  length,  but 
Rosetta,  who  appeared  to  be  quite  conscious,  had 
made  no  response  or  in  any  way  shown  that  she 
felt  repentant. 

"Ain't  you  got  nothin'  to  say,  my  daughter?" 
the  parson  pointedly  inquired  at  last. 

"  No,"  was  the  faint,  but  prompt  and  emphatic 
answer. 

"  Ain't  you  yet  convicted  of  sin  ?  " 

"  No." 

He  sighed,  began  to  pray  once  more,  and  after 
a  few  minutes  again  addressed  her. 

"  Don't  you  want  to  confess  yo'  sins,  my  daugh 
ter,  while  yet  you  got  the  time?  " 

"  No." 

"  Ain't  you  never  done  nothin'  you  sorry  for?  " 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  319 

"No." 

"  Sholy  you  want  to  ease  yo'  mind  of  its  heavy 
load  befo'  you  die,  po'  sufferin'  sinner?" 

"No." 

"  Ain't  you  never  done  nothin'  wrong  to  no 
body?" 

"No!" 

The  parson  looked  nonplussed.  "  Don't  you 
want  me  to  pray  for  you  ? "  he  asked  helplessly. 
"  What  you  want  me  to  do  for  you  ?  " 

"  Go  'way  and  lem-me  'lone." 

Maum  Katie  listened  in  amazement.  Could  this 
stubborn  and  unrepentant  soul  be  really  on  the 
threshold  of  another  world  ?  It  was  hard  for  her 
to  believe,  and,  when  a  few  days  later  she  heard 
that  Rosetta's  condition  had  improved  and  her 
complete  recovery  was  regarded  as  only  a  matter 
of  time,  she  was  not  surprised. 

The  embarrassed  parson  offered  another  prayer 
and  then  retired,  telling  Zeno  Hightower  that  he 
would  call  again.  As  soon  as  he  was  out  of  the 
room  Rosetta  faintly  called  Maum  Katie  to  her 
side. 

"  Now  ole  Smith  is  gone,  I  '11  tell  you  somethin'," 
she  half-whispered.  "  I  holp  to  fool  a  young  white 
'oman  once,  and  if  you  want  to,  you  kin  go  tell  her 
all  about  it  when  she  come  back  home.  I  goin' 
tell  you  'cause  you  been  good  to  me  and  'cause 
she  yo'  friend.  Me  and  Sam  Thomas  fooled  her 
'bout  her  sweetheart  and  it  made  trouble  I  reckon. 


32o  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

He  's  dead  now  and  it  don't  matter  if  I  tell  on 
him.  I  swore  I  'd  tell  on  him  anyhow  a  Saturday, 
when  I  heard  him  tell  ole  Simpson  to  whip  me 
good." 

She  began  to  swear,  but  became  suddenly  weak 
and  was  obliged  to  cease. 

"  What  young  white  'oman  was  it  ?  "  asked  Maum 
Katie,  after  a  few  minutes. 

"  Reba  Lawrence." 

More  questions  were  then  asked  and  answers  faint 
ly  given,  and  ere  she  departed  Maum  Katie  heard 
the  whole  story  of  the  forged  letter  which  had  so 
successfully  substituted  discord  for  peace  and  filled 
two  trusting  souls  with  harrowing  doubt  and  grief. 

The  riot  occurred  on  Saturday  afternoon,  the 
besiegers  of  the  swamp  dispersed  early  Sunday 
morning;  Reba  reached  Barcelona  Monday  noon, 
in  time  to  spend  a  few  hours  with  her  stricken 
aunt  and  cousin  before  the  hearse  came  and  Charlie 
Walton's  funeral  procession  was  formed.  These 
two  were  absorbed  in  their  own  grief  and  did  not 
mention  Morton's  name,  and  Reba  waited,  asking 
no  questions.  On  their  return  from  the  cemetery 
she  overheard  some  one  riding  past  the  carriage 
which  she  and  Betty  occupied  remark  that  Jim 
Jones  was  said  to  be  better,  but  that  Robert  Mor 
ton  was  not  expected  to  live ;  his  wound  proved 
to  be  a  very  serious  one  and  the  doctors  had  dis 
covered  great  difficulty  in  extracting  the  bullet, 
which  was  lodged  somewhere  in  the  abdomen. 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  321 

The  latter  information  came  from  Betty,  who  also 
overheard  the  remark  of  the  passing  horseman. 

On  their  arrival  at  the  desolate  home  of  her 
aunt,  Reba  found  her  tried  and  true  old  friend 
Maum  Katie  impatiently  awaiting  her,  and  the 
race  riot,  with  all  the  bitterness  it  involved,  did 
not  prevent  these  two  from  showing  the  pleasure 
it  gave  them  to  see  each  other  again.  Maum  Katie 
had  obtained  leave  and  started  for  the  mayor's 
house  as  soon  as  she  heard  of  Reba's  arrival,  and 
she  now  lost  no  time  in  coming  to  the  story  of 
Rosetta's  confession,  observing  with  great  satisfac 
tion  that  her  young  friend,  who  leaned  forward  with 
expanded  eyes  and  parted  lips,  seemed  to  grow 
radiantly  beautiful  as  she  listened. 

Crossing  the  hallway  of  her  house  about  an  hour 
later  —  just  at  nightfall  —  Mrs.  Morton,  a  soft- 
voiced,  gentle,  gray-haired  woman,  whose  beauti 
ful  eyes  were  now  full  of  sadness,  looked  through 
the  open  front  door  and  was  profoundly  surprised 
to  see  Reba  Lawrence  mounting  the  steps. 

"  I  hope  you  are  quite  well.  I  did  not  know 
you  had  returned,"  she  said  courteously  but  coldly, 
as  she  conducted  her  visitor  to  the  parlor. 

"'How  is  he?  Is  there  not  hope?"  demanded 
Reba,  abruptly,  her  eyes  glowing,  a  round  red 
spot  burning  on  each  cheek. 

"  My  son  is  very  ill.  There  is  little  hope.  We  " 
—  with  a  heavy  sigh  — "  fear  he  will  die." 

"  Let  me  go  to  him  !  Let  me  see  him  !  "  cried 
Reba. 

21 


322  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  Oh,  you  cannot,"  said  the  elder  lady  after  a 
moment,  almost  dumbfounded  at  sight  of  the 
anguish  on  the  young  girl's  face.  "  You  would 
excite  him ;  the  doctor  would  forbid  it." 

"  Mrs.  Morton  —  do  —  please  —  don't  prevent 
me,"  the  girl  begged,  drawing  nearer. 

"  I  fail  to  understand  you,"  was  the  cold  re 
sponse.  "  How  can  you  ask?  Why  should  you 
wish  to  see  him?" 

"  I  love  him.  I  shall  die  of  remorse  if —  I  must 
see  him.  No  one  can  prevent  me!  We  —  we 
were  engaged  —  " 

"  And  you  broke  it  off.  If  you  loved  him, 
why  did  you  jilt  him?"  Mrs.  Morton  was  now 
colder  than  ever,  and  her  gentle  voice  had  grown 
stern. 

"  How  cruel  —  horrible  —  that  sounds,"  muttered 
Reba,  falling  mechanically  into  a  chair.  "But  — 
yes,  I  should  have  trusted  htm  in  spite  of  every 
thing."  She  bowed  her  head  upon  the  arm  of  the 
chair  with  a  long-drawn  sob.  "  There  is  no  time 
to  lose,"  she  then  cried  suddenly,  starting  up  and 
unfolding  a  crumpled  bit  of  paper  till  now  forgotten 
in  the  grasp  of  her  hand. 

"  If  you  will  not  believe  me,  you  will  believe 
your  own  eyes." 

"  What  does  all  this  mean?  "  asked  Mrs.  Morton, 
bewildered,  putting  out  her  hand  to  take  the  prof 
fered  letter.  "  We  thought  you  broke  off  your 
engagement  on  account  of  that  Northerner." 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  323 

"  I  was  deceived  by  this  letter.  I  have  just 
learned  that  it  was  a  forgery, —  written  by  Sam 
Thomas,"  the  girl  rapidly  explained. 

"Why  —  why  should  he  have  done  such  a 
thing?  "  asked  Mrs.  Morton,  after  swiftly  absorbing 
the  letter  which  was  to  all  appearances  from  the 
pen  of  her  own  son,  and  thus  proof  of  a  perfidious 
scheme. 

"Because  he  hated  him,  —  you  remember  the 
affair  about  Miss  Black,  —  and  because  he  —  liked 
me." 

"  What  an  infamous  —  " 

"Now,  will  you  let  me  go  to  him?  "  interrupted 
Reba,  urgently.  "  He  loved  me  once,  and  it  may 
help  him  to  live  —  if  I  could  —  " 

A  minute  later  the  two  ladies  entered  the  wounded 
man's  room,  and  Mrs.  Morton  signed  to  her 
daughter,  who  sat  watching,  to  withdraw.  At  sight 
of  the  pallid,  swarthy  face,  the  dark,  strange  eyes, 
now  full  of  an  abnormal  glare,  the  girl  uttered  a 
low,  indescribable  cry,  and,  careless  who  might 
see  or  hear,  she  fell  on  her  knees  at  the  bedside, 
putting  her  hand  upon  his,  and  softly  calling  his 
name.  The  staring,  glassy  eyes  fixed  themselves 
upon  her;  gradually  a  soft,  warm  light  suffused 
them,  and  an  expression  of  intelligence  and  glad 
ness  stole  over  the  whole  face.  But  Morton  was 
too  weak  to  speak  and  his  lips  remained  closed. 
The  mother  now  softly  withdrew,  hope  alive  in  her 
heart. 


324  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

"  I  have  come  to  ask  you  to  forgive,"  whispered 
Reba,  in  response  to  his  growing  look  of  inquiry, 
her  lips  almost  touching  his  ear,  —  "  to  beg  you  to 
live  —  to  live  for  me;  to  tell  you  that  I  love  you, 
love  you,  love  you,  and  that  unless  you  forgive  me 
and  live  I  shall  die  of  remorse.  I  will  only  tell 
you  now  that  they  made  me  believe  you  did  not 
love  me, —  and  so  I  ran  away;  but  now  I  know 
that  they  told  me  lies,  and  I  have  come  back." 

It  was  like  the  sound  of  a  soft  strain  of  music  as 
she  said  finally:  "  If  you  will  forgive  me  and  take 
me  back,  my  beloved,  I  am  yours  forever." 

He  made  a  convulsive  movement  of  the  arms 
as  if  to  take  her  to  him,  and  whispering,  "  Darling 
—  darling  —  darling!"  she  bent  over  until  their 
faces  met  and  her  lips  rested  upon  his. 

"  I  think  he  's  going  to  pull  through,  after  all," 
said  the  doctor,  brightly,  as  he  came  out  of  Mor 
ton's  room  two  hours  later. 

About  six  weeks  after  Reba's  precipitate  depart 
ure  from  Philadelphia,  Mrs.  Blossom  received  a 
letter  from  the  South,  which  she  opened  and  read 
eagerly,  and  over  which  she  shook  her  head  in 
solemn  disapproval.  The  letter  was  dated  at  St. 
Augustine,  was  written  by  her  nephew  Paul  Shep 
herd,  and  from  it  is  quoted  the  following :  — 

"  After  leaving  Barcelona  I  decided  to  come  on  here 
for  a  day  or  so,  before  returning  home.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  as  you  feared.     She  is  going  to  marry  that  poor 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  325 

devil  of  a  Southerner,  who  has  hardly  a  cent  in  the  world, 
but  who,  according  to  report,  is  a  very  good  sort  of  a 
fellow.  I  did  not  need  to  call  on  her  and  make  a  declara 
tion  in  order  to  find  that  out.  Everybody  seems  to  know 
it,  although  it  is  said  to  be  usual  here  for  engagements  to 
be  kept  secret  until  the  cards  are  out.  However,  I  called 
on  her  twice  at  her  aunt's,  and  was  very  kindly  received. 
Of  course,  I  had  common-sense  and  good  taste  enough 
to  say  nothing.  We  talked  —  well,  of  you  and  Phila 
delphia  mostly.  It  is  possible  that  you  will  be  more 
disappointed  than  I  was.  Now  that  all  is  over,  I  am 
astonished  to  find  myself  suffering  so  little  from  anything 
like  real  regret.  My  wound,  after  all,  must  have  been 
only  skin  deep.  And  yet  she  has  haunted  my  mind  ever 
since  the  night  of  the  tournament  ball  here,  when  she 
seemed  to  me  incomparably  lovely  with  that  tinsel  crown 
on  her  head. 

"You  have  said  very  little  about  her  cousin,  Miss 
Walton,  who,  it  strikes  me,  is  a  young  lady  of  a  great  deal 
of  character.  I  met  her  for  the  first  time  the  other  day 
when  calling  on  Miss  Reba  to  say  good-by,  and  I  have 
been  surprised  to  find  myself  thinking  of  her  so  often 
since.  She  is  not  beautiful,  perhaps,  but  has  a  certain  in 
definable  loveliness  which  leaves  a  lingering  impression. 
And  she  has  keen  perceptions  and  a  fine  sense  of  the 
fitness  of  things.  I  had  spoken  guardedly  of  the  riot, 
respecting  their  feelings,  and  expressing  my  sympathy 
in  the  best  way  I  knew  how,  when  she  addressed 
me  in  a  defiant,  combative  style  which  compelled  my 
admiration. 

"  '  I  suppose  you  call  this  a  "  Southern  outrage  "  ?  '  she 
said,  with  fine  scorn. 


326  THE  SONS   OF  HAM. 

"  '  I  don't  characterize  it,  I  deplore  it,'  I  said. 

"'The  negro  is  the  Pet  of  Politics,  Colonel  Sanford 
says,'  she  proceeded.  '  You  Northerners  have  adopted 
him  as  your  pet.  It  is  well  for  you,'  she  added,  signifi 
cantly,  '  that  you  keep  your  pet  at  a  safe  distance.' 

"  Her  brother  was  killed  in  the  riot,  you  know,  and 
only  a  few  months  ago  she  mourned  the  loss  of  a  youthful 
lover,  who  was  robbed  and  murdered  by  negroes.  In 
spite  of  her  combative  attitude,  I  felt  that  it  was  possible 
for  us  to  become  the  best  of  friends.  If  I  had  seen  her 
first,  —  who  knows  ?  But  I  am  writing  nonsense. 

"  Your  niece,  Miss  Black,  whom  I  saw  twice,  talked 
more  sharply  still.  The  term  *  red-hot '  may  not  be  quite 
respectful,  but  it  is  the  only  one  I  can  think  of  which  is 
strong  enough  to  describe  her  state  of  mind.  She  washes 
her  hands  of  us  and  our  criticism,  and  from  all  the  indica 
tions  I  should  judge  that  she  expects  to  marry  and  make 
her  permanent  home  here.  I  am  informed  that  she  is 
already  in  a  position  to  make  a  choice  between  two  very 
respectable  men. 

"  I  met  Colonel  Sanford,  too,  and  with  him  talked  more 
freely  of  the  riot  and  the  negro  question  in  general.  He 
is  in  failing  health,  but  sent  to  ask  me  to  call  on  him  at 
his  house.  One  is  compelled  to  admire  such  a  man.  I 
am  informed  that  he  recently  made  a  deed  of  gift  of  a 
farm  to  *  old  Jerry  Carter,'  the  negro  whose  innocent  son, 
on  the  strength  of  strong  circumstantial  evidence,  was 
lynched  for  the  murder  of  Jack  Sanford.  The  colonel  is 
said  to  have  endeavored  to  prevent  this  lynching,  but 
none  the  less  considered  himself  in  honor  bound  to  make 
some  sort  of  reparation  to  the  sufferers,  and  he  presented 
the  Carters  with  the  farm  which  they  had  been  occupying 


THE  SONS  OF  HAM.  327 

as  tenants.  This  act  is  seen  to  be  the  more  noble  when  it 
is  known  that  Colonel  Sanford  is  comparatively  a  poor 
man. 

"  The  theories  of  this  unusual  man  may  not  be  practi 
cal,  but  he  unquestionably  has  the  good  of  his  section  and 
the  whole  country,  the  blacks  as  well  as  the  whites,  at 
heart.  He  is  a  genuine  patriot,  —  a  vastly  different  speci 
men  from  the  creature  who  blatantly  proclaims  himself 
such  at  election  times  and  concerns  himself  no  more 
about  it  later  on.  He  thinks  there  is  little  hope  for  the 
South,  the  whites  or  the  blacks,  apart  from  the  gradual 
removal  of  the  latter  to  Africa  ;  and  certainly  there  is  some 
thing  radically  wrong  in  the  present  situation. 

u  But  the  poor  old  Colonel  is  discouraged,  seeing  little 
or  no  hope  at  present  for  his  colonization  scheme,  and  for 
these  reasons :  The  negro  in  the  mass  is  poverty-stricken, 
helpless,  living  from  hand  to  mouth,  having  as  yet  devel 
oped  almost  no  capacity  for  organization  or  concerted 
action.  The  North  is  not  inclined  to  sympathize  with  the 
scheme  because  it  does  not  feel  the  pinch  (some  day  it 
may),  and  because  of  sentiment,  —  a  sentiment  which 
would  seem  to  accord  the  freed  slave  the  right  to  remain 
in  the  South  and  acquire  a  supremacy  over  his  former 
master  ;  in  other  words,  to  overturn  the  State  and  stand  it 
on  its  head,  in  return  for  the  wrongs  of  slavery.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  South,  from  sad  and  hopeless  experience, 
listens  with  apathy  to  the  suggestion,  regarding  the  negro 
as  an  immovable  incubus,  an  old  man  of  the  sea  which 
cannot  be  shaken  off.  Besides  this,  the  planter  selfishly 
fears  that  he  will  lose  his  crops  while  the  negro  is  being 
exchanged  for  the  white  foreign  immigrant. 

"Such  being  the  present  situation,  the  thoughtful  ob- 


328  THE  SONS  OF  HAM. 

server  is  oppressed  with  misgivings  as  he  contemplates 
the  future.  What  public  and  private  disasters  are  to  come 
through  the  negro's  easily  cajoled  and  venal  vote,  througli 
his  rapid  increase  and  future  numerical  supremacy,  through 
the  fires  of  race  hate,  now  carefully  smothered  on  his 
—  the  weaker  —  side,  and  only  now  and  then  bursting 
forth  to  remind  the  world  of  what  watches  and  waits 
behind  the  screen  of  servility  and  circumspection, —  no 
human  mind  can  estimate  or  foresee." 


THE  END. 


THE  WEDDING  GARMENT, 

3,  Cale  of  t&e  life  to  Come* 
BY    LOUIS    PENDLETON. 


16mo.     Cloth,  price,  $1.OO.     White  and  gold,  $1.25. 


"  The  Wedding  Garment "  tells  the  story  of  the  continued  existence  of  a  young 
man  after  his  death  or  departure  from  the  natural  world.  Awakening  in  the 
other  world,  — in  an  intermediate  region  between  Heaven  and  Hell,  where  the 
good  and  the  evil  live  together  temporarily  commingled,  —  he  is  astonished  and 
delighted  to  find  himself  the  same  man  in  all  respects  as  to  every  characteristic  of 
his  mind  and  ultimate  of  the  body.  So  closely  does,  everything  about  him 
resemble  the  world  he  has  left  behind,  that  he  believes  he  is  still  in  the  latter 
until  convinced  of  the  error.  The  young  man  has  good  impulses,  but  is  no  saint, 
and  he  listens  to  the  persuasions  of  certain  persons  who  were  his  friends  in  the 
world,  but  who  are  now  numbered  among  the  evil,  even  to  the  extent  of  following 
them  downward  to  the  very  confines  of  Hell.  Resisting  at  last  and  saving  him 
self,  later  on,  and  after  many  remarkable  experiences,  he  gradually  makes  his  way 
through  the  intermediate  region  to  the  gateways  of  Heaven,  —  which  can  be  found 
only  by  those  prepared  to  enter,  —  where  he  is  left  with  the  prospect  before  him 
of  a  blessed  eternity  in  the  company  of  the  woman  he  loves. 

The  book  is  written  in  a  reverential  spirit ,  it  is  unique  and  quite  unlike  any 
story  of  the  same  type  heretofore  published,  full  of  telling  incidents  and  dramatic 
situations,  and  not  merely  a  record  of  the  doings  of  sexless  "shades'*  but  of 
living  human  beings. 

The  one  grand  practical  lesson  which  this  book  teaches,  and  which  is  in 
accord  with  the  divine  Word  and  the  New  Church  unfoldings  of  it  everywhere 
teach,  is  the  need  of  an  interior,  true  purpose  in  life.  The  deepest  ruling  pur 
pose  which  we  cherish,  what  we  constantly  strive  for  and  determine  to  pursue  as 
the  most  real  and  precious  thing  of  life,  that  rules  us  everywhere,  that  is  our  ego, 
our  life,  is  what  will  have  its  way  at  last.  It  will  at  last  break  through  all  dis 
guise  ;  it  will  bring  all  external  conduct  into  harmony  with  itself.  If  it  be  an 
evil  and  selfish  end,  all  external  and  fair  moralties  will  melt  away,  and  the  man 
will  lose  his  common  sense  and  exhibit  his  insanities  of  opinion  and  will  and 
answering  deed  on  the  surface.  But  if  that  end  be  good  and  innocent,  and  there 
be  humility  within,  the  outward  disorders  and  evils  which  result  from  one's 
heredity  or  surroundings  will  finally  disappear.  —  From  Rev.  John  Goddard  s 
discourse,  July  i,  1894. 

Putting  aside  the  question  as  to  whether  the  scheme  of  the  soul's  develop 
ment  after  death  was  or  was  not  revealed  to  Swedenborg,  whether  or  not  the 
title  of  seer  can  be  added  to  the  claims  of  this  learned  student  of  science,  all  this 
need  not  interfere  with  the  moral  influence  of  this  work,  although  the  weight  of 
its  instruction  must  be  greatly  enforced  on  the  minds  of  those  who  believe  in  a 
later  inspiration  than  the  gospels. 

This  story  begins  where  others  end  ;  the  title  of  the  first  chapter,  "  I  Die," 
commands  attention  ;  the  process  of  the  soul's  disenthralment  is  certainly  in  har 
mony  with  what  we  sometimes  read  in  the  dim  eyes  of  friends  we  follow  to  the 
very  gate  of  life.  "  By  what  power  does  a  single  spark  hold  to  life  so  long  .  .  . 
this  lingering  of  the  divine  spark  of  life  in  a  body  growing  cold?  "  It  is  the 
mission  of  the  author  to  tear  from  Death  its  long-established  thoughts  of  horror, 
and  upon  its  entrance  into  a  new  life,  the  soul  possesses  such  a  power  of  adjust 
ment  that  no  shock  is  experienced.  —  Boston  Transcript. 


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LIFE   AND   ADVENTURES    OF 
JOHN   GLADWYN  JEBB. 

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A  remarkable  romance  of  modern  life.  —  Daily  Chronicle. 

Exciting  to  a  degree.  —  Black  and  White, 

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Reads  like  fiction.  — Daily  Graphic. 

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As  fascinating  as  any  romance.  .  .  .  The  book  is  of  the  most  entranc 
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which  an  introduction  is  furnished  by  Rider  Haggard.  The  latter  says 
that  rarely,  if  ever,  in  this  nineteenth  century,  has  a  man  lived  so  strange 
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tures  of  which  we  have  an  account  in  this  volume  were  in  Guatemala,  Brazil, 
in  our  own  far  West  with  the  Indians  on  the  plains,  in  mining  camps  in 
Colorado  and  California,  in  Texas,  in  Cuba  and  Mexico,  where  occurred 
the  search  for  Montezuma's,  or  rather  Guatemoc's  treasure,  to  which  Mr. 
Haggard  believes  that  Mr.  Jebb  held  the  key,  but  which  through  his  death 
is  now  forever  lost.  The  story  is  one  of  thrilling  interest  from  beginning 
to  end,  the  story  of  a  born  adventurer,  unselfish,  sanguine,  romantic,  of  a 
man  too  mystical  and  poetic  in  his  nature  for  this  prosaic  nineteenth  cen 
tury,  but  who,  as  a  crusader  or  a  knight  errant,  would  have  won  distinguished 
success.  The  volume  is  a  notable  addition  to  the  literature  of  adventure. 
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BY  FLORENCE  FARR. 

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We  welcome  the  light  and  merry  pen  of  Miss  Fair  as  one  of  the  deftest  that 
has  been  wielded  in  the  style  of  to-day.  She  has  written  the  cleverest  and  the 
most  cynical  sensation  story  of  the  season.  — Liverpool  Daily  Post, 

Slight  as  it  is,  the  story  is,  in  its  way,  strong.  — Literary  World. 

Full  of  bright  paradox,  and  paradox  which  is  no  mere  topsy-turvy  play  upon 
words,  but  the  product  of  serious  thinking  upon  life.  One  of  the  cleverest  of 
recent  novels.  —  Star, 

It  is  full  of  epigrammatic  effects,  and  it  has  a  certain  thread  of  pathos  calcu 
lated  to  win  our  spmpathy.  —  Queen. 

The  story  is  subtle  and  psychological  after  the  fashion  of  modern  psychology  ; 
it  is  undeniably  clever  and  smartly  written.  —  Gentlewoman. 

No  one  can  deny  its  freshness  and  wit.  Indeed  there  are  things  in  it  here  and 
there  which  John  Oliver  Hobbes  herself  might  have  signed  without  loss  of  repu 
tation.  —  Woman. 

There  is  a  lurid  power  in  the  very  unreality  of  the  story.  One  does  not  quite 
understand  how  Lady  Geraldine  worked  herself  up  to  shooting  her  lover ;  but 
when  she  has  done  it,  the  description  of  what  passes  through  her  mind  is 
magnificent.  — Athenceum. 

Written  by  an  obviously  clever  woman.  —  Black  and  White. 

Miss  Fair  has  talent.  "The  Dancing  Faun  "  contains  writing  that  is  distinc 
tively  good.  Doubtless  it  is  only  a  prelude  to  something  much  stronger. — 
A  cademy. 

As  a  work  of  art,  the  book  has  the  merit  of  brevity  and  smart  writing,  while 
the  denouement  is  skilfully  prepared,  and  comes  as  a  surprise.  If  the  book  had 
been  intended  as  a  satire  on  the  "  new  woman  "  sort  of  literature,  it  would  have 
been  most  brilliant ;  but  assuming  it  to  be  written  in  earnest,  we  can  heartily 
praise  the  form  of  its  construction  without  agreeing  with  the  sentiments  expressed. 
St.  James's  Gazette. 

Shows  considerable  power  and  aptitude.  —  Saturday  Re-view. 

Miss  Farr  is  a  clever  writer  whose  apprenticeship  at  play  writing  can  easily  be 
detected  in  the  epigrammatic  conversations  with  which  this  book  is  filled,  and 
whose  characters  expound  a  philosophy  of  life  which  strongly  recalls  Oscar 
Wilde's  later  interpretations.  .  .  .  The  theme  of  the  tale  is  heredity  developed 
in  a  most  unpleasant  manner.  The  leading  idea  that  daughters  inherit  the  father's 
qualities,  good  or  evil,  while  sons  resemble  their  mother,  is  well  sustained  — 
Home  Journal. 

Sold  everywhere.    Postpaid  by  publishers. 

ROBERTS   BROTHERS,   BOSTON. 


POOR   FOLK, 


Translated  from  the  Russian  of  FEDOR  DOSTOIEVSKY,  by 
LENA  MILMAN,  with  decorative  titlepage  and  a  criti 
cal  introduction  by  GEORGE  MOORE.  American 
Copyright  edition. 

16  mo.    Cloth.    $1.00. 


A  capable  critic  writes  :  "  One  of  the  most  beautiful,  touching  stories  I  have 
read.  The  character  of  the  old  clerk  is  a  masterpiece,  a  kind  of  Russian  Charles 
Lamb.  He  reminds  me,  too,  of  Anatole  France's  '  Sylvestre  Bonnard,'  but  it 
is  a  more  poignant,  moving  figure.  How  wonderfully,  too,  the  sad  little  strokes 
of  humor  are  blended  into  the  pathos  in  his  characterization,  and  how  fascinating 
all  the  naive  self-revelations  of  his  poverty  become,  —  all  his  many  ups  and  downs 
and  hopes  and  fears.  His  unsuccessful  visit  to  the  money-lender,  his  despair  at  the 
office,  unexpectedly  ending  in  a  sudden  burst  of  good  fortune,  the  final  despair 
ing  cry  of  his  love  for  Varvara,  —  these  hold  one  breathless  One  can  hardly 
read  them  without  tears.  .  .  .  But  there  is  no  need  to  say  all  that  could  be  said 
about  the  book.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  it  is  over  powerful  and  beautiful." 

We  are  glad  to  welcome  a  good  translation  of  the  Russian  Dostoievsky's 
story  "'  Poor  Folk,"  Englished  by  Lena  Milman.  It  is  a  tale  of  unrequited  love, 
conducted  in  the  form  of  letters  written  between  a  poor  clerk  and  his  girl  cousin 
whom  he  devotedly  loves,  and  who  finally  leaves  him  to  marry  a  man  not  admir 
able  in  character  who,  the  reader  feels,  will  not  make  her  happy.  The  pathos  of 
the  book  centres  in  the  clerk,  Makar's,  unselfish  affection  and  his  heart-break  at 
being  left  lonesome  by  his  charming  kinswoman  whose  epistles  have  been  his  one 
solace.  In  the  conductment  of  the  story,  realistic  sketches  of  middle  class  Rus 
sian  life  are  given,  heightening  the  effect  of  the  denoument.  George  Moore  writes 
a  sparkling  introduction  to  the  book.  — Hartford  Courant. 

Dostoievsky  is  a  great  artist.  "  Poor  Folk "  is  a  great  novel.  —  Boston 
A  dvertiser. 

It  is  a  most  beautiful  and  touching  story,  and  will  linger  in  the  mind  long 
after  the  book  is  closed.  The  pathos  is  blended  with  touching  bits  of  humor, 
that  are  even  pathetic  in  themselves.  —  Boston  Times. 

Notwithstanding  that  "Poor  Folk"  is  told  in  that  most  exasperating  and 
entirely  unreal  style  —  by  letters  —  it  is  complete  in  sequence,  and  the  interest 
does  not  flag  as  the  various  phases  in  the  sordid  life  of  the  two  characters  are 
developed.  The  theme  is  intensely  pathetic  and  truly  human,  while  its  treat 
ment  is  exceedingly  artistic.  The  translator,  Lena  Milman,  seems  to  have  well 
preserved  the  spirit  of  the  original  —  Cambridge  Tribune. 


ROBERTS   BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

BOSTON,  MASS. 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'1  Publications. 

DISCORDS. 

&  Volume  of  Stories* 
BY  GEORGE  EGERTON,  author  of  "  Keynotes.'* 

AMERICAN    COPYRIGHT   EDITION. 

i6mo.     Cloth.    Price,  $1.00. 


George  Egerton's  new  volume  entitled  "  Discords,"  a  collection  of  short  stories, 
is  more  talked  about,  just  now,  than  any  other  fiction  of  the  day.  The  collection  is 
really  stories  for  story-writers.  They  are  precisely  the  quality  which  literary  folk  will 
wrangle  over.  Harold  Frederic  cables  from  London  to  the  "  New  York  Times  "  that 
the  book  is  making  a  profound  impression  there.  It  is  published  on  both  sides,  the 
Roberts  House  bringing  it  out  in  Boston.  George  Egerton,  like  George  Eliot  and 
George  Sand,  is  a  woman's  nom  de  plume.  The  extraordinary  frankness  with  which 
life  in  general  is  discussed  in  these  stories  not  unnaturally  arrests  attention.  — 
Lilian  Whiting. 

The  English  woman,  known  as  yet  only  by  the  name  of  George  Egerton,  who 
made  something  of  a  stir  in  the  world  by  a  volume  of  strong  stories  called  "  Keynotes," 
has  brought  out  a  new  book  under  the  rather  uncomfortable  title  of  "  Discords." 
These  stories  show  us  pessimism  run  wild  ;  the  gloomy  things  that  can  happen  to  a 
human  being  are  so  dwelt  upon  as  to  leave  the  impression  that  in  the  author's  own 
world  there  is  no  light.  The  relations  of  the  sexes  are  treated  of  in  bitter  irony,  which 
develops  into  actual  horror  as  the  pages  pass.  But  in  all  this  there  is  a  rugged 
grandeur  of  style,  a  keen  analysis  of  motive,  and  a  deepness  of  pathos  that  stamp 
George  Egerton  as  one  of  the  greatest  women  writers  of  the  day.  "Discords"  has 
been  called  a  volume  of  stories  ;  it  is  a  misnomer,  for  the  book  contains  merely  varying 
episodes  in  lives  of  men  and  women,  with  no  plot,  no  beginning  nor  ending.  —  Boston 
Traveller. 

This  is  a  new  volume  of  psychological  stories  from  the  pen  and  brains  of  George 
Egerton,  the  author  of  "  Keynotes."  Evidently  the  titles  of  the  author's  books  are 
selected  according  to  musical  principles.  The  first  story  in  the  book  is  "A  Psycho, 
logical  Moment  at  Three  Periods."  It  is  all  strength  rather  than  sentiment.  The 
story  of  the  child,  of  the  girl,  and  of  the  woman  is  told,  and  told  by  one  to  whom  the 
mysteries  of  the  life  of  each  are  familiarly  known.  In  their  very  truth,  as  the  Writer 
has  so  subtly  analyzed  her  triple  characters,  they  sadden  one  to  think  that  such  things 
must  be  ;  yet  as  they  are  real,  they  are  bound  to  be  disclosed  by  somebody  and  in  c^ie 
time.  The  author  betrays  remarkable  penetrative  skill  and  perception,  and  directs 
the  human  heart  with  a  power  from  whose  demonstration  the  sensitive  nature  may 
instinctively  shrink  even  while  fascinated  with  the  narration  and  hypnotized  by  the 
treatment  exhibited.  —  Courier. 


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ROBERTS   BROTHERS,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


KEYNOTES. 

3  Volume  of  g>torte0. 

By  GEORGE  EGERTON.     With  titlepage  by  AUBREY 
BEARDSLEY.     i6mo.     Cloth.     Price,  $1.00. 


Not  since  "The  Story  of  an  African  Farm"  was  written  has  any  woman  de 
livered  herself  of  so  strong,  so  forcible  a  book.  —  Queen. 

Knotty  questions  in  sex  problems  are  dealt  with  in  these  brief  sketches.  They 
are  treated  boldly,  fearlessly,  perhaps  we  may  say  forcefully,  with  a  deep  plunge 
into  the  realities  of  life.  The  colors  are  laid  in  masses  on  the  canvas,  while 
passions,  temperaments,  and  sudden,  subtle  analyses  take  form  under  the  quick, 
sharp  stroke.  Though  they  contain  a  vein  of  coarseness  and  touch  slightly  upon 
tabooed  subjects,  they  evidence  power  and  thought.  —  Public  Opinion. 

Indeed,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  "  Keynotes  "  is  the  strongest  volume 
of  short  stories  that  the  year  has  produced.  Further,  we  would  wager  a  good 
deal,  were  it  necessary,  that  George  Egerton  is  a  nom-de-plume,  and  of  a  woman, 
too.  Why  is  it  that  so  many  women  hide  beneath  a  man's  name  when  they  enter 
the  field  of  authorship?  And  in  this  case  it  seems  doubly  foolish,  the  work  is  so 
intensely  strong.  .  .  . 

The  chief  characters  of  these  stories  are  women,  and  women  drawn  as  only  a 
woman  can  draw  word-pictures  of  her  own  sex.  The  subtlety  of  analysis  is 
wonderful,  direct  in  its  effectiveness,  unerring  in  its  truth,  and  stirring  in  its  reveal 
ing  power.  Truly,  no  one  but  a  woman  could  thus  throw  the  light  of  revelation 
upon  her  own  sex.  Man  does  not  understand  woman  as  does  the  author  of 
"  Keynotes." 

The  vitality  of  the  stories,  too,  is  remarkable.  Life,  very  real  life,  is  pictured  ; 
life  full  of  joys  and  sorrows,  happinesses  and  heartbreaks,  courage  and  self-sacrifice ; 
of  self-abnegation,  of  struggle,  of  victory.  The  characters  are  intense,  yet  not 
overdrawn ;  the  experiences  are  dramatic,  in  one  sense  or  another,  and  yet  are 
never  hyper-emotional.  And  all  is  told  with  a  power  of  concentration  that  is 
simply  astonishing.  A  sentence  does  duty  for  a  chapter,  a  paragraph  for  a  picture 
of  years  of  experience. 

Indeed,  for  vigor,  originality,  forcefulness  of  expression,  and  completeness  of 
character  presentation,  "  Keynotes"  surpasses  any  recent  volume  of  short  fiction 
that  we  can  recall.  —  Times,  Boston. 

It  brings  a  new  quality  and  a  striking  new  force  into  the  literature  of  the 
hour.  —  The  Speaker. 

The  mind  that  conceived  "  Keynotes  "  is  so  strong  and  original  that  one  will 
look  with  deep  interest  for  the  successors  of  this  first  book,  at  once  powerful  and 
appealingly  feminine.  —  Irish  Independent. 


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^f  price  by  the  Publishers, 

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Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications. 

A  CHILD  OF  THE  AGE. 

a  Nobel 

BY  FRANCIS    ADAMS 

(KEYNOTES  SERIES.) 

With   titlepage    by    AUBREY    BEARDSLEY.       i6mo.      Cloth. 
Price,  1 1. oo. 

This  story  by  Francis  Adams  was  originally  published  under  the  title  of 
"  Leicester,  an  Autobiography,"  in  1884,  when  the  author  was  only  twenty-two  years 
of  age.  That  would  make  him  thirty-two  years  old  now,  if  he  were  still  living.  He 
was  but  eighteen  years  old  when  it  was  first  drafted  by  him.  Sometime  after  publica 
tion,  he  revised  the  work,  and  in  its  present  form  it  is  now  published  again,  practi 
cally  a  posthumous  production.  We  can  with  truthfulness  characterize  it  as  a  tale  of 
fresh  originality,  deep  spiritual  meaning,  and  exceptional  power.  It  fairly  buds, 
blossoms,  and  fruits  with  suggestions  that  search  the  human  spirit  through.  No 
similar  production  has  come  from  the  hand  of  any  author  in  our  time.  That  Francis 
Adams  would  have  carved  out  a  remarkable  career  for  himself  had  he  continued  to 
live,  this  little  volume,  all  compact  with  significant  suggestion,  attests  on  many  a 
page.  It  exalts,  inspires,  comforts,  and  strengthens  all  together.  It  instructs  by 
suggestion,  spiritualizes  the  thought  by  its  elevating  and  purifying  narrative,  and 
feeds  the  hungering  spirit  with  food  it  is  only  too  ready  to  accept  and  assimilate. 
Those  who  read  its  pages  with  an  eager  curiosity  the  first  time  will  be  pretty  sure 
to  return  to  them  for  a  second  slower  and  more  meditative  perusal.  The  book  is 
assuredly  the  promise  and  potency  of  great  things  unattained  in  the  too  brief  life 
time  of  its  gifted  author.  We  heartily  commend  it  as  a  book  not  only  of  remarkable 
power,  but  as  the  product  of  a  human  spirit  whose  merely  intellectual  gifts  were  but 
a  fractional  part  of  his  inclusive  spiritual  endowments.  —  Boston  Courier. 

But  it  is  a  remarkable  work— as  a  pathological  study  almost  unsurpassed.  Tt 
produces  the  impression  of  a  photograph  from  life,  so  vividly  realistic  is  the  treatment. 
To  this  result  the  author's  style,  with  its  fidelity  of  microscopic  detail,  doubtless 
contributes.  —  Evening  Traveller. 

This  story  by  Francis  Adams  is  one  to  read  slowly,  and  then  to  read  a  secoi.d 
time.  It  is  powerfully  written,  full  of  strong  suggestion,  unlike,  in  fact,  anything  we 
have  recently  read.  What  he  would  have  done  in  the  way  of  literary  creation,  had  he 
lived,  is,  of  course,  only  a  matter  of  conjecture.  What  he  did  we  have  before  us  in 
this  remarkable  book.  —  Boston  Advertiser. 


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ROBERTS   BROTHERS,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


Balzac  in  English. 


PIERRETTE 

AND 

VICAR    OK   TOURS. 

BY   HONORS   DE   BALZAC. 
Translated  by  Katharine  Prescott  Worme/ey. 


In  Pierrette,  which  Miss  Wormeley  has  added  to  her  series  of  felicitous 
translations  from  the  French  master-fictionists,  Balzac  has  made  within 
brief  compass  a  marvellously  sympathetic  study  of  the  martyrdom  of  a 
young  girl.  Pierrette,  a  flower  of  Brittany,  beautiful,  pale,  and  fair  and 
sweet,  is  taken  as  an  undesired  charge  by  sordid-minded  cousins  in  Pro- 
vins,  and  like  an  exotic  transplanted  into  a  harsh  and  sour  so>l  she  withers 
and  fades  under  the  cruel  conditions  of  her  new  environment.  Inciden 
tally  Balzac  depicts  in  vivid  colors  the  struggles  of  two  shop-keepers  —  a 
brother  and  sister,  who  have  amassed  a  little  fortune  in  Paris  —  to  gain  a 
foothold  among  the  bourgeoisie  of  their  native  town.  These  two  become 
the  prey  of  conspirators  for  political  advancement,  and  the  rivalries  thus 
engendered  shake  the  small  provincial  society  to  its  centre.  Put  the 
charm  of  the  tale  is  in  the  portrayal  of  the  character  of  Pierrette,  who 
understands  only  how  to  love,  and  who  cannot  live  in  an  atmosphere  of 
suspicion  and  ill-treatment.  The  story  is  of  course  sad,  but  its  fidelity  to 
life  and  the  pathos  of  it  are  elements  of  unfailing  interest.  Balzac  brings 
a  score  or  more  of  people  upon  the  stage,  shows  each  one  as  he  or  she 
really  is  both  in  outward  appearance  and  inward  nature,  and  then  allows 
motives  and  circumstances  to  work  out  an  inevitable  result.  To  watch 
this  process  is  like  being  present  at  some  wonderful  chemical  experiment 
where  the  ingredients  are  mixed  with  a  deft  and  careful  hand,  and  combine 
to  produce  effects  of  astonishing  significance.  The  social  genesis  of  the 
old  maid  in  her  most  abhorrent  form  occupies  much  of  Balzac's  attention 
in  Pierrette,  and  this  theme  also  has  a  place  in  the  story  of  The  Vicar  0} 
Tours,  bound  up  in  this  same  volume.  The  vicar  is  a  simple-minded 
priest  who  is  happy  enough  till  he  takes  up  his  quarters  with  an  old  maid 
landlady,  who  pesters  and  annoys  him  in  many  ways,  and  finally  sends  him 
forth  despoiled  of  his  worldly  goods  and  a  laughing-stock  for  the  country 
side.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  humor  in  the  tale,  but  one  must  confess 
that  the  humor  is  of  a  rather  heavy  sort,  it  being  weighed  down  by  a  domi 
nant  satirical  purpose.  —  The  Beacon. 

One  handsome  I2mo  volume,  uniform  with  "  Pere  Goriot," 
"  The  Duchesse  de  Langeais,"  "  Cesar  Birotteau,"  "  Eugenie 
Grandet,"  "  Cousin  Pons,"  "  The  Country  Doctor,"  "  The  Tw« 
Brothers,"  and  "  The  Alkahest."  Half  morocco,  French  style, 
Price,  $1.50. 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS,  BOSTON. 


Messrs.  Roberts  BrotJiers    Publications. 


BALZAC   IN  ENGLISH. 


Lost  Illusions :  The  Two  Poets,  and  Eve  anfl  David, 

BY   HONORE   DE   BALZAC. 

Being  the  twenty-third  volume  of  Miss  Wormeley's  translation  of 
Balzac's  novels.     I2mo.     Half  Russia.     Price,  #1.50. 

For  her  latest  translation  of  the  Balzac  fiction  cycle,  Miss  Wormeley  gives  us 
the  first  and  third  parts  of  "  Illusion  Perdue,"  under  the  caption  of  "  Lost 
Illusions,"  namely,  "The  Two  Poets"  and  "  Eve  and  David."  This  arrange 
ment  is  no  doubt  a  good  one,  for  the  readers  are  thus  enabled  to  follow  the  consecu 
tive  fortunes  of  the  Angouleme  folk,  while  the  adventures  of  Eve's  poet-brother, 
Lucien,  which  occur  in  Paris  and  make  a  tale  by  themselves,  are  thus  left  for  a 
separate  publication.  The  novel,  as  we  have  it,  then,  belongs  to  the  category  of 
those  scenes  from  provincial  life  which  Balzac  found  so  stimulating  to  his  genius. 
This  story,  certainly,  in  some  respects  takes  high  rank  among  them.  The 
character-drawing  is  fine:  Lucien,  the  ambitious,  handsome,  weak-willed,  selfish, 
and  easily-sinning  young  bourgeois,  is  contrasted  with  David,  —  a  touching  picture 
of  the  struggling  inventor,  born  of  the  people  and  sublimely  one-purposed  and 
pure  in  his  life.  Eve,  the  type  of  a  faithful  large-brained  and  larger-hearted  wife, 
who  supports  her  husband  through  all  his  hardships  with  unfaltering  courage  and 
kindness,  is  another  noble  creation.  David  inherits  a  poorish  printing  business 
from  his  skin-flint  of  a  father,  neglects  it  while  devoting  all  his  time  and  energy  to 
his  discovery  of  an  improved  method  of  making  paper ;  and  through  the  evil 
machinations  of  the  rival  printing  firm  of  the  Cointets,  as  well  as  the  debts  foisted 
on  him  by  Lucien  in  Paris,  he  is  brought  into  money  difficulties  and  even  into 
prison.  But  his  invention,  although  sold  at  a  sacrifice  to  the  cunning  Cointets, 
gets  him  out  of  the  hole  at  last,  and  he  and  his  good  wife  retire  on  a  comfortable 
competency,  which  is  augmented  at  the  death  of  his  father  into  a  good-sized 
fortune.  The  seamy  side  of  law  in  the  provinces  is  shown  up  in  Balzac's  keen, 
inimitable  way  in  the  description  of  the  winding  of  the  coils  around  the  unsuspect 
ing  David  and  the  depiction  of  such  men  as  the  brothers  Cointets  and  the  shrewd 
little  petifogging  rascal,  Petit  Claud.  The  pictures  of  Angouleme  aristocratic 
circles,  too,  with  Lucien  as  high  priest,  are  vivacious,  and  show  the  novelist's 
wonderful  observation  in  all  ranks  of  life.  The  bit  of  wild  romance  by  which 
Lucien  becomes  the  secretary  of  a  Spanish  grandee  lends  a  fairy-tale  flavor  to  tne 
main  episodes.  Balzac,  in  whom  is  united  the  most  lynx-eyed  realism  and  the 
most  extravagant  romanticism,  is  ever  and  always  one  of  the  great  masters  in 
fiction  of  our  century. 


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the  price  by  the  Publishers, 

ROBERTS   BROTHERS,    BOSTON 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers1  Publications. 


BALZAC    IN    ENGLISH. 


A  GREAT  MAN  Of  PROVINCES  IN  PARIS. 

BY   HONORE    DE    BALZAC. 

Being  the  second  part  of  "  Lost  Illusions."     Translated  by  Kath 
arine    Prescott    Wormeley.      i2mo.      Half    Russia.      Price, 

51.50. 

"A  Great  Man  of  the  Provinces  in  Paris  "  (Part  Second  of  "  Lost  Illusions  ") 
is  a  formidable  revelation  of  journalistic  "enterprise"  under  the  Restoration, 
such  as  only  an  eye-witness  or  a  real  sufferer  could  give.  The  thread  of  the 
story  of  "Lost  Illusions"  is  again  taken  up,  with  the  weak  and  brilliant  figure 
of  Lucien  Chardon,  and  carried  through  all  the  complications  and  entanglements 
of  Parisian  newspaper  life.  He  elopes  with  a  "  married  flirt,"  and  is  speedily 
disillusioned  when  he  arrives  in  the  metropolis,  by  finding  his  goddess  old, 
ugly,  and  ridiculous  in  comparison  with  the  style  and  charm  of  the  Parisian 
elegante.  He  himself,  handsome  as  an  angel,  gifted,  poetic,  but  shifty,  is  a 
true  type  of  the  provincial  Apollo  Belvedere  marching  forth  to  conquer  the 
worlds  of  fashion  and  literature,  without  any  resources  but  his  beauty  and  his  wit. 
Balzac,  the  matchless  delineator  of  the  Empire  and  the  Restoration,  introduces 
this  curled  darling  (wonderfully  like  Alfred  de  Musset !)  into  the  arcana  of  jour 
nalism,  makes  him  the  pivot  of  suppers  and  scenes  characteristic  of  the  time  of 
Louis  XVIII.,  shows  him  every  variety  of  the  genus  publisher  then  flourishing, 
gives  us  fascinating  glimpses  of  the  great  world  of  the  Bourbons,  and  sets 
Lucien  in  an  entrancing  environment  of  gorgeous  vice  in  which  one  illusion  after 
another  is  mercilessly  dispelled.  Noble  and  beautiful  chapters  and  faces  occur 
by  the  way  to  redeem  the  ugliness  and  unrighteousness  of  the  rest.  Balzac  has 
never  painted  a  more  pathetic  face  than  poor  fallen  Coralie's,  or  a  more  striking 
and  noble-minded  group  than  the  Brotherhood.  Such  features  redeem  a  book 
charged  with  the  foulness  of  a  life  inconceivable  to  Anglo-Saxon  minds,  and  unfit 
for  any  pure  soul  to  become  familiar  with,  even  through  the  brilliant,  mirage- 
producing  medium  of  a  genius  like  Balzac's.  —  The  Critic. 

The  art  of  Balzac,  the  wonderful  power  of  his  contrast,  the  depth  of  his 
knowledge  of  life  and  men  and  things,  this  tremendous  story  illustrates.  How 
admirably  the  rise  of  the  poet  is  traced;  the  crescendo  is  perfect  in  gradation,  yet 
as  inexorable  as  fate.  As  for  the  fall,  the  effect  is  more  depressing  than  a 
personal  catastrophe.  This  is  a  book  to  read  over  and  over,  an  epic  of  life  in 
prose,  more  tremendous  than  the  blank  verse  of  "  Paradise  Lost "  or  the 
'•  Divine  Comedy."  Miss  Wormeley  and  the  publishers  deserve  not  congratula 
tions  alone,  but  thanks  for  adding  this  book  and  its  predecessor,  "  Lost  Illusions," 
to  the  literature  of  English.  —  San  Francisco  Wave. 


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Messrs.  Roberts  BrotJiers'  Publications. 


BALZAC    IN    ENGLISH. 


THE  BROTHERHOOD  OF  CONSOLATION. 

(L'ENVERS  DE  L'HISJOIRE  CON7EMPORAINE.) 

BY   HONORE   DE   BALZAC. 

1.  Madame  de  la  Chanterie.      2.   The  Initiate.     Translated  by 
Katharine  Prescott  Wormeley.     12010.     Half  Russia.     Price, 

#1.50. 

There  is  no  book  of  Balzac  which  is  informed  by  a  loftier  spirit  than 
"  L'Envers  de  1'Histoire  Contemporaine,"  which  has  just  been  added  by  Miss 
Wormeley  to  her  admirable  series  of  translations  under  the  title,  "  The  Brother 
hood  of  Consolation."  The  title  which  is  given  to  the  translation  is,  to  our 
thinking,  a  happier  one  than  that  which  the  work  bears  in  the  original,  since,  after 
all,  the  political  and  historical  portions  of  the  hook  are  only  the  background  of  the 
other  and  more  absorbing  theme,  —  the  development  of  the  brotherhood  over 
which  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  presided.  It  is  true  that  there  is  about  it  all 
something  theatrical,  something  which  shows  the  French  taste  for  making  godli 
ness  itself  histrionically  effective,  that  quality  of  mind  which  would  lead  a  Parisian 
to  criticise  the  coming  of  the  judgment  angels  if  their  entrance  were  not  happily 
arranged  and  properly  executed  ;  but  in  spite  of  this  there  is  an  elevation  such  as 
it  is  rare  to  meet  with  in  literature,  and  especially  in  the  literature  of  Balzac's  age 
and  land.  The  story  is  admirably  told,  and  the  figure  of  the  Baron  Bourlac  is 
really  noble  in  its  martyrdom  of  self-denial  and  heroic  patience.  The  picture  of 
the  Jewish  doctor  is  a  most  characteristic  piece  of  work,  and  shows  Balzac's 
intimate  touch  in  every  line.  Balzac  was  always  attracted  by  the  mystical  side 
of  the  physical  nature  ;  and  it  might  almost  be  said  that  everything  that  savored 
of  mystery,  even  though  it  ran  obviously  into  quackery,  had  a  strong  attraction 
for  him.  He  pictures  Halpersohn  with  a  few  strokes,  but  his  picture  of  him  has 
a  striking  vitality  and  reality.  The  volume  is  a  valuable  and  attractive  addition  to 
the  series  to  which  it  belongs ;  and  the  series  comes  as  near  to  fulfilling  the  ideal 
o  what  translations  should  be  as  is  often  granted  to  earthly  things.  —  Boston 
Courier. 

The  book,  which  is  one  of  rare  charm,  is  one  of  the  most  refined,  while  at  the 
same  time  tragic,  of  all  his  works.  — Public  Opinion. 

HU  present  work  is  a  fiction  beautiful  in  its  conception,  just  one  of  those 
practical  ideals  which  Balzac  nourished  and  believed  in.  There  never  was  greater 
homage  than  he  pays  to  the  book  of  books,  "The  Imitation  of  Jesus  Christ." 
Miss  Wormeley  has  here  accomplished  her  work  just  as  cleverly  as  in  her  other 
volumes  of  Balzac.  —  N.  Y.  Times. 


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BALZAC  IN  ENGLISH. 


An  Historical  Mystery. 

Translated  by  KATHARINE  PRESCOTT  WORMELEY. 
12mo.    Half  Russia.    Uniform  with  Balzac's  Works.    Price,  $1.50. 


An  Historical  Mystery  is  the  title  given  to  "  Une  Te'ne'breuse  Affaire,"  which 
has  just  appeared  in  the  series  of  translations  of  Honore  de  Balzac's  novels,  by 
Katharine  Prescott  Wormeley  This  exciting  romance  is  full  of  stirring  interest, 
and  is  distinguished  by  that  minute  analysis  of  character  in  which  its  eminent 
author  excelled.  The  characters  stand  boldly  out  from  the  surrounding  incidents, 
and  with  a  fidelity  as  wonderful  as  it  is  truthful.  Plot  and  counterplot  follow 
each  other  with  marvellous  rapidity;  and  around  the  exciting  days  when  Na 
poleon  was  First  Consul,  and  afterward  when  he  was  Emperor,  a  mystery  is 
woven  in  which  some  royalists  are  concerned  that  is  concealed  with  masterly 
ingenuity  until  the  novelist  sees  fit  to  take  his  reader  into  his  confidence.  The 
heroine,  Laurence,  is  a  remarkably  strong  character ;  and  the  love-story  in  which 
she  figures  is  refreshing  in  its  departure  from  the  beaten  path  of  the  ordinary 
writer  of  fiction.  Michu,  her  devoted  servant,  has  also  a  marked  individuality, 
which  leaves  a  lasting  impression.  Napoleon,  Talleyrand,  Fouche,  and  other 
historical  personages,  appear  in  the  tale  in  a  manner  that  is  at  once  natural  and 
impressive.  As  an  addition  to  a  remarkable  series,  the  book  is  one  that  no 
admirer  of  Balzac  can  afford  to  neglect.  Miss  Wormeley's  translation  reproduces 
the  peculiarities  of  the  author's  style  with  the  faithfulness  for  which  she  has 
hitherto  been  celebrated.  —  Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

It  makes  very  interesting  reading  at  this  distance  of  time,  however;  and  Balzac 
has  given  to  the  legendary  account  much  of  the  solidity  of  history  by  his  adroit 
manipulation.  For  the  main  story  it  must  be  said  that  the  action  is  swifter  and 
more  varied  than  in  many  of  the  author's  books,  and  that  there  are  not  wanting 
many  of  those  cameo-like  portraits  necessary  to  warn  the  reader  against  slovenly 
perusal  of  this  carefully  written  story;  for  the  complications  are  such,  and  the  re 
lations  between  the  several  plots  involved  so  intricate,  that  the  thread  might 
easily  be  lost  and  much  of  the  interest  be  thus  destroyed  The  usual  Balzac 
compactness  is  of  course  present  throughout,  to  give  body  and  significance  to  the 
work,  and  the  stage  is  crowded  with  impressive  figures.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  find  a  book  which  gives  a  better  or  more  faithful  illustration  of  one  of  the 
strangest  periods  in  French  history,  in  short ;  and  its  attraction  as  a  story  is  at 
least  equalled  by  its  value  as  a  true  picture  of  the  time  it  is  concerned  with.  The 
translation  is  as  spirited  and  close  as  Miss  Wormeley  has  taught  us  to  expect  in 
this  admirable  series.  —New  York  Tribune. 

One  of  the  most  intensely  interesting  novels  that  Balzac  ever  wrote  is  An 
Historical  Mystery,  whose  translation  has  just  been  added  to  the  preceding 
novels  that  compose  the  "Comedie  Humaine"  so  admirably  translated  by  Miss 
Katharine  Prescott  Wormeley.  The  story  opens  in  the  autumn  of  1803,  in  the 
time  of  the  Empire,  and  the  motive  is  in  deep-laid  political  plots,  which  are  re 
vealed  with  the  subtle  and  ingenious  skill  that  marks  the  art  of  Balzac.  .  .  The 
story  is  a  deep-laid  political  conspiracy  of  the  secret  service  of  the  ministry  of 
the  police.  Talleyrand,  M'lle  de  Cinq-Cygne,  the  Princess  de  Cadigan,  Louis 
XVIII.,  as  well  as  Napoleon,  figure  as  characters  of  this  thrilling  historic  ro 
mance.  An  absorbing  love-story  is  also  told,  in  which  State  intrigue  plays  an 
important  part.  The  character-drawing  is  faithful  to  history,  and  the  story  illu 
minates  French  life  in  the  early  years  of  the  century  as  if  &  calcium  light  were 
thrown  on  the  scene. 

It  is  a  romance  of  remarkable  power  and  one  of  the  most  deeply  fascinating 
of  all  the  novels  of  the  ''  Comedie  Humaine." 


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Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications. 


A  MEMOIR  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC. 


Compiled  and  written  by  KATHARINE  PRESCOTT  WORMELEY,  translator 
of  Balzac's  works.  With  portrait  of  Balzac,  taken  one  hour  after 
death,  by  Eugene  Giraud,  and  a  Sketch  of  the  Prison  of  the  College 
de  Vendome.  One  volume,  i2mo.  Half  Russia,  uniform  with  our 
edition  of  Balzac's  works.  Price,  $1.50. 

A  complete  life  of  Balzac  can  probably  never  be  written.  The  sole  object  of 
the  present  volume  is  to  present  Balzac  to  American  readers.  This  memoir  is 
meant  to  be  a  presentation  of  the  man,  —  and  not  of  his  work,  except  as  it  was  a 
part  of  himself,  —  derived  from  authentic  sources  of  information,  and  presented  in 
their  own  words,  with  such  simple  elucidations  as  a  close  intercourse  with  Balzac's 
mind,  necessitated  by  conscientious  translation,  naturally  gives.  The  portrait 
in  this  volume  was  considered  by  Madame  de  Balzac  the  best  likeness  of  her 
husband. 

Miss  Wormeley's  discussion  of  the  subject  is  of  value  in  many  ways,  and  it  has 
long  been  needed  as  a  help  to  comprehension  of  his  life  and  character.  Person 
ally,  he  lived  up  to  his  theory.  His  life  was  in  fact  austere.  Any  detailed  ac 
count  of  the  conditions  under  which  he  worked,  such  as  are  given  in  this  volume, 
will  show  that  this  must  have  been  the  case ;  and  the  fact  strongly  reinforces  the 
doctrine.  Miss  Wormeley,  in  arranging  her  account  of  his  career,  has,  almost 
of  necessity,  made  free  use  of  the  letters  and  memoir  published  by  Balzac's  sister, 
Madame  Surville.  She  has  also,  whenever  it  would  serve  the  purpose  of  illus 
tration  better,  quoted  from  the  sketches  of  him  by  his  contemporaries,  wisely 
rejecting  the  trivialities  and  frivolities  by  the  exaggeration  of  which  many  of  his 


imagination,  fond  of  wild  and  impracticable  schemes,  and  altogether  an  eccentric 
and  unstable  person.  But  it  is  not  difficult  to  prove  that  Balzac  was  quite  a 
different  character  ;  that  he  possessed  a  marvellous  power  of  intellectual  organi 
zation  ;  that  he  was  the  most  methodical  and  indefatigable  of  workers  ;  that  he 
was  a  man  of  a  most  delicate  sense  of  honor;  that  his  life  was  not  simply  de 
voted  to  literary  ambition,  but  was  a  martyrdom  to  obligations  which  were  his 
misfortune,  but  not  his  fault. 

All  this  Miss  Wormley  has  well  set  forth  ;  and  in  doing  so  she  has  certainly 
relieved  Balzac  of  much  unmerited  odium,  and  has  enabled  those  who  have  not 
made  a  study  of  his  character  and  work  to  understand  how  high  the  place  is  in 
any  estimate  of  the  helpers  of  modern  progress  and  enlightenment  to  which  his 
genius  and  the  loftiness  of  his  aims  entitle  him.  This  memoir  is  a  very  modest 
biography,  though  a  very  good  one.  The  author  has  effaced  herself  as  much  as 
possible,  and  has  relied  upon  "documents"  whenever  they  were  trustworthy.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 


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in 


THE  VILLAGE  RECTOR. 

BY  HONORE  DE  BALZAC. 

Translated  by  KATHARINE  PRESCOTT  WORMELEY.     i2mo. 
Half  Russia.     Price,  #1.50. 


ONCE  more  that  wonderful  acquaintance  which  Balzac  had  with  all  callings 
appears  manifest  in  this  work.  Would  you  get  to  the  bottom  of  the  engineer's 
occupation  in  France?  Balzac  presents  it  in  the  whole  system,  with  its  aspects, 
disadvantages,  and  the  excellence  of  the  work  accomplished.  We  write  to-day 
of  irrigation  and  of  arboriculture  as  if  they  were  novelties  ;  yet  in  the  waste  lands 
of  Montagnac,  Balzac  found  these  topics ;  and  what  he  wrote  is  the  clearest 
exposition  of  the  subjects. 

But,  above  all,  in  "  The  Village  Rector  "  is  found  the  most  potent  of  religious 
ideas,  —  the  one  that  God  grants  pardon  to  sinners.  Balzac  had  studied  and 
appreciated  the  intensely  human  side  of  Catholicism  and  its  adaptiveness  to  the 
wants  of  mankind.  It  is  religion,  with  Balzac,  "  that  opens  to  us  an  inexhaustible 
treasure  of  indulgence."  It  is  true  repentance  that  saves. 

The  drama  which  is  unrolled  in  "The  Village  Rector"  is  a  terrible  one,  and 
perhaps  repugnant  to  our  sensitive  minds.  The  selection  of  such  a  plot,  pitiless 
as  it  is,  Balzac  made  so  as  to  present  the  darkest  side  of  human  nature,  and  to 
show  how,  through  God's  pity,  a  soul  might  be  saved.  The  instrument  of  mercy 
is  the  Rector  Bonnet,  and  in  the  chapter  entitled  "  The  Rector  at  Work"  he 
shows  how  religion  "  extends  a  man's  life  beyond  the  world."  It  is  not  sufficient 
to  weep  and  moan.  "That  is  but  the  beginning;  the  end  is  action."  The 
rector  urges  the  woman  whose  sins  are  great  to  devote  what  remains  of  her  life 
to  work  for  the  benefit  of  her  brothers  and  sisters,  and  so  she  sets  about  reclaim 
ing  the  waste  lands  which  surround  her  chateau.  With  a  talent  of  a  superlative 
order,  which  gives  grace  to  Veronique,  she  is  like  the  Madonna  of  some  old  panel 
of  Van  Eyck's.  Doing  penance,  she  wears  close  to  her  tender  skin  a  haircloth 
vestment.  For  love  of  her,  a  man  has  committed  murder  and  died  and  kept  his 
secret.  In  her  youth,  Veronique's  face  had  been  pitted,  but  her  saintly  life  had 
obliterated  that  spotted  mantle  of  smallpox.  Tears  had  washed  out  every  blemish. 
If  through  true  repentance  a  soul  was  ever  saved,  it  was  Veronique's.  This 
work,  too,  has  afforded  consolation  to  many  miserable  sinners,  and  showed  them 
the  way  to  grace. 

The  present  translation  is  to  be  cited  for  its  wonderful  accuracy  and  its  literary 
distinction.  We  can  hardly  think  of  a  more  difficult  task  than  the  Englishing  of 
Balzac,  and  a  general  reading  public  should  be  grateful  for  the  admirable  manner 
in  which  Miss  Wormeley  has  performed  her  task.  — New  York  Times- 


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in 


MEMOIRS  OF  Two  YOUNG  MARRIED  WOMEN. 

BY  HONORE  DE  BALZAC. 

Translated  by  KATHARINE  PRESCOTT  WORMELEY.    12  mo. 
Half  Russia.     Price,  $1.50. 


"THERE  are,"  says  Henry  James  in  one  of  his  essays,  "two  writers  in 
Balzac,  —  the  spontaneous  one  and  the  reflective  one,  the  former  of 
which  is  much  the  more  delightful,  while  the  latter  is  the  more  extraordi 
nary."  It  is  the  reflective  Balzac,  the  Balzac  with  a  theory,  whom  we 
get  in  the  "Deux  Jeunes  Marines,"  now  translated  by  Miss  Wormeley 
under  the  title  of  "Memoirs  of  Two  Young  Married  Women."  The 
theory  of  Balzac  is  that  the  marriage  of  convenience,  properly  regarded, 
is  far  preferable  to  the  marriage  simply  from  love,  and  he  undertakes  to 
prove,  this  proposition  by  contrasting  the  careers  of  two  young  girls  who 
have  been  fellow-students  at  a  convent.  One  of  them,  the  ardent  and 
passionate  Louise  de  Chaulieu,  has  an  intrigue  with  a  Spanish  refugee, 
finally  marries  him,  kills  him,  as  she  herself  confesses,  by  her  perpetual 
jealousy  and  exaction,  mourns  his  loss  bitterly,  then  marries  a  golden- 
haired  youth,  lives  with  him  in  a  dream  of  ecstasy  for  a  year  or  so,  and 
this  time  kills  herself  through  jealousy  wrongfully  inspired.  As  for  her 
friend,  Renee  de  Maucombe,  she  dutifully  makes  a  marriage  to  please  her 
parents,  calculates  coolly  beforehand  how  many  children  she  will  have  and 
how  they  shall  be  trained;  insists,  however,  that  the  marriage  shall  be 
merely  a  civil  contract  till  she  and  her  husband  find  that  their  hearts  are 
indeed  one ;  and  sees  all  her  brightest  visions  realized,  —  her  Louis  an 
ambitious  man  for  her  sake  and  her  children  truly  adorable  creatures. 
The  story,  which  is  told  in  the  form  of  letters,  fairly  scintillates  with 
brilliant  sayings,  and  is  filled  with  eloquent  discourses  concerning  the 
nature  of  love,  conjugal  and  otherwise.  Louise  and  Ren6e  are  both 
extremely  sophisticated  young  women,  even  in  their  teens  ;  and  those 
who  expect  to  find  in  their  letters  the  demure  innocence  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  type  will  be  somewhat  astonished.  The  translation,  under  the 
circumstances,  was  rather  a  daring  attempt,  but  it  has  been  most  felicit 
ously  done.  —  The  Beacon. 


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